Rite Of Passage
by PathOfMyOwn
Summary: Takes place in Season 4 between episodes "Octopus Head" and "Highway of Tears." How will Nick deal with the recent loss of his Grimm powers when a childhood enemy of Trubel's stops by for a visit and ends up landing her in the hospital? Reviews are appreciated!
1. Tracked Down- Conquered

**Disclaimer: Grimm is owned by NBC and created by David Greenwalt. This story is written purely for the fun of it. Trigger warning- Violence.**

Takes place in Season 4 between "Octopus Head" and "Highway of Tears."

It was a quiet day in Portland. Nick had left to go to the precinct, and Juliette had gone to her veterinarian clinic, leaving Trubel all alone in the house- which was fine with her since she was used to being alone anyway.

Trubel sat on the couch going through one of Nick's Grimm diaries. Since Nick had recently been de-Grimmed, it was probably best for her to gather as much knowledge of the wesen world as she could, to be Nick's eyes in his investigations if he needed a Grimm around. Though Trubel didn't plan on sticking around any longer than Nick needed her to. If Nick hadn't lost his ability to see the wesen for himself, she would have left a long time ago. Not that she _wanted_ to leave, but she couldn't help feeling that with every passing day she owed Nick more and more- which bothered her to no end. She hated depending on people even if that person was willingly sacrificing time and effort for her.

She was sitting in _Nick's_ house on _Nick's_ couch reading _Nick's_ Grimm books. Anybody'd feel like a complete intruder in that type of situation. She had to leave eventually; all she needed was the right moment.

*Scene Jump – The Precinct*

Nick sat at his desk in front of his computer clicking away at the screen while investigating his and Hank's newest crime suspect. Hank sat across the room on his own computer with a bored expression on his face. Without Nick's Grimm powers- crime investigation had gone from exciting to boring to almost unbearably boring.

So instead of concentrating at his work, Nick's head was full of complicated thoughts regarding Adalind's magic sex trick to take away his powers, Juliette's despair over he being who he is taking over their life, Monroe and Rosalee's disastrously interrupted wedding, Trubel rushing in to give him a potion to reverse whatever Adalind had done to him, and the Captain being shot. So much had gone on in one day it would have been impossible for him to believe it, if it hadn't all happened to him.

Suddenly he was snapped out of his thoughts when his phone began to buzz. Nick looked down and pulled it out of his pocket, expecting to find Juliette or Trubel as the caller ID. Instead, the ID said "UNKNOWN CALLER."

"Burkhardt." Nick said as he answered his phone.

"Is Theresa Rubel staying at your house?" a low voice on the other end asked. Nick paused before answering.

"Yes." Nick said, "May I ask who's calling? What do you want with Theresa? How do you know she's staying at my house?" He eyed his partner and Hank stopped what he was doing and looked at Nick.

"Just a friend of hers. I found out on the Internet. Just wanted to make sure." The voice replied. Nick was about to ask him why on earth anybody would want to talk to Trubel, but the phone clicked off as the caller hung up. Nick ended the call himself and put his phone back in his pocket.

"Who was that?" Hank asked him.

"Somebody asking if Trubel was at my house. Said he was a friend of hers." He replied as he scratched his head.

"Should we call her, tell her somebody's stopping by?" Hank asked.

"Probably should." Nick replied as he pulled his phone back out to dial Trubel's cell phone, only to be interrupted by Wu.

"Found another victim at a park nearby. Same marks as the first Vic, brutally murdered."

The phone call momentarily forgotten; Hank and Nick got up and grabbed their jackets. "Let's check it out."

*Scene Jump- Nick and Juliette's House.*

Trubel was halfway through reading one of Nick's journals when there was a loud series of knocking at the door. "Theresa Rubel?" came a loud deep voice from the door. Trubel immediately put down her book and grabbed her machete. She knew this voice but couldn't completely remember from where; and she'd learned from years on the run that it was better to be safe than sorry.

She went to the front door and looked out through the window at the top. "Who're you?" She asked suspiciously. The last person who had come to Nick's door while he wasn't home was his captain, and _that_ certainly hadn't ended well.

"Theresa! Don't you remember me?" Trubel saw a tall man with brown frizzled hair and a huge brown jacket standing at the other end. Whoever this person was, she didn't ever remember meeting him...until she locked eyes with him. Trubel froze. She knew those eyes.

Trubel immediately jumped back as the man broke through the front door with brute force. "Remember me now, little girl?" The man roared as his face rippled away and he woged into the Siegbarste. Trubel stared in shock at the monster that had killed her foster parents all those years ago. The monster she'd tried hard to forget, and had finally come somewhat to peace with after Nick had taken her in and explained to her what Grimms and Wesen were. But why the hell would this monster come back after so many years?

Trubel took a split second to choose her next move before rushing at the monster to cut off its head with her machete, only to be stopped by it grabbing her wrist before the blow could hit. "That's not a very nice way of greeting somebody!" The monster mocked as he gripped Trubel's hand so tightly, the machete fell out and onto the floor.

Instinctively, Trubel thrashed out with her legs and hit him hard in the 'down there.' He loosened his grip and bent over in a pain no man nor wesen could withstand. Trubel immediately dived towards the floor to grab her machete, only to get kicked hard in the face. Hot pain seared through her mind but she didn't have the chance to deal with it, the monster grabbed her by the hair and yanked her up to face him.

The wesen's angry yellow eyes pierced through Trubel's dark ones and she felt her blood run cold. She was _afraid_ of this man. Suddenly, the self confidence and hardness she'd built over the years of being on the run seemed to peel away- leaving only the terrified little girl behind. She forgot Nick and Juliette and everyone else, her sole instinct was to run and hide from the monster in front of her.

"You'll PAY FOR THAT. Siegbarstes never let grudges go." He growled as he raised his fist to punch her, "Your family owed me a lot of money! My debt will not be repaid until I kill you too!" He smashed his fist against Trubel's face and kicked her hard again- sending her flying across the room and into the coffee table in the living room.

Dazed, Trubel felt blood pouring down from her forehead. Her machete was all the way across the room next to the door, which was near a _very_ angry Siegbarste; and the safety of the kitchen was too far away to even think about getting to without being noticed.

"It's taken a long time to track you down, what with you always on the run and all!" The Siegbarste boomed as he smashed his fist angrily into the wall, shattering one of Juliette's picture frames with the impact. "But now my debt will be repaid after I'm finished with you!" Trubel tried to scramble away but the monster rampaged across the room and yanked her backwards by her neck, pulling her up to face him again.

A million thoughts went haywire through Trubel's head yet they all contained the same message. GET OUT OF HERE. She raised her hands to try to loosen his grip on her throat. The Siegbarste released his grip and instead hit her hard in the gut and then smashed her head down back onto the floor.

"I always heard Grimms were supposed to be tougher than this!" He yelled as Trubel groaned and coughed up blood. "You're not nearly anything worth those make believe stories!" He bent down and grabbed Trubel by her jacket again and hurled her into the kitchen.

Through the pain and the terror, Trubel thought to scramble up and grab a knife off the counter. The Siegbarste made its way to the entrance to the kitchen and laughed at the sight of her holding the knife. "You think a little knife will stop me when a big one won't?" He mocked.

Trubel knew he was only trying to wound her self confidence, but he had a point. If a machete wouldn't stop him- a kitchen knife most certainly wouldn't be able to do anything close to fatal. Then, Trubel had an idea. Instead of going in for the kill, she could try to hurt the monster to slow it down so she could come up with a plan and get the hell out of there.

The monster let his guard down as he made fun of Trubel, calling her all sorts of names and rambling on about her foster family's issues. Trubel didn't care. She'd heard all those names before. Instead, she snatched a heavy red pan off the stove and leapt at him, smashing it hard onto his head. The monster shouted as he lost his balance and brought his hand up to the wall to steady himself. Trubel immediately dashed forward and stabbed the kitchen knife as hard as she could into his thigh. The Siegbarste yelled as he fell to his knees in pain, trying to remove the knife.

Fear ran through Trubel's mind as she backed away and grabbed another knife, putting as much distance between her and the monster as she could. She knew she couldn't make it to the door- that would mean going past the Siegbarste; which she couldn't do because he took up most of the room and she would have to practically jump over him in order to get by. Instead, she yanked her phone out of her pocket and began to dial Nick's number. The phone rung twice before Nick picked up.

*Scene Jump – The Park*

"The victim hasn't been identified yet. Whoever killed her took her money and her wallet before doing...whatever this is." Wu explained as he, Hank, and Nick stood over the mangled body of a young girl.

"She looks around 20 something." Hank muttered as he looked down at the body and then took his gaze away. "Whoever did this to her definitely had a big temper." He looked up at Nick with his signature _this-gotta-be-wesen_ look and Nick just nodded solemnly, knowing Trubel or Monroe would have to help him.

Nick reached into his pocket as his phone began to buzz again. The caller ID was Trubel's. "One second." He told Wu as he turned his back on the scene and answered his phone. "Trubel, what is it?"

"Nick!" he heard Trubel yell. He could hear somebody shouting angry curses in the background. Suddenly, he heard a hard blow collide and the phone was dropped to the floor. "Trubel?" Nick gasped. The rest of the crime investigators stared at him like he'd grown a second head, but he ignored them. He was too horrified at the sounds coming from the other end of the call. He heard the man yelling and Trubel grunting as he smashed her into the walls of the house. Then, he heard a harsh cracking sound as someone's bones were smashed- and Trubel crying out before the phone went dead.

 **(A/N: I dreamt this after the season finale of Season 4. Gosh this is much more brutal writing it out than seeing it in my head! Next chapter soon- reviews would be appreciated!)**


	2. Before It's Too Late!

"Hank we gotta go!" Nick yelled as he clicked off his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. Hank and Wu looked up in surprise and Nick hastily explained, "Just got a call near my house someone's in trouble." He looked pointedly at Hank and Hanks nodded- he understood.

"What do you want to do about the case?" Wu asked as Nick and Hank began to run towards their car.

"Just continue ID-ing the victim!" Hank shouted as he closed the door to the passenger' side.

"O-kaay..." Wu replied awkwardly as the car rushed to life and sped away.

"Nick, what the hell's happening _now_?" Hank demanded as the crime scene faded behind them into the distance.

"No idea." Nick muttered, "But somebody was at the house and Trubel was in what sounded like a really rough fight." Hank sighed and Nick added, "And it didn't sound like she was on the winning side."

"Then we gotta get there – and fast." Hank replied.

Nick turned the siren on and he and Hank went zooming down the road.

*Scene Jump- Nick and Juliette's House*

The kicks and hits Trubel had received had all given away to just pain. So much pain. At one point she thought she remembered cracking a glass cup over the Siegbarste's head- but she couldn't be sure. Had she called Nick? She couldn't remember. Her phone had been thrown across the room and smashed to bits. She was lying in a pool of what felt like water but probably was blood. She couldn't be sure of that either.

Suddenly, the monster stopped kicking Trubel and jerked his head up. He cursed under his breathe and looked angrily back down at her. Then she heard it too: sirens.

"Damn, the police." The monster muttered "Don't think I'm done with you yet." He growled as he began to run to the front door. At the exit he stopped and turned around to look back at her. "I'll be back." He smiled. And then he was gone.

{ GRIMM }

Nick and Hank pulled up to the house and jumped out of the car just as a brown pickup truck turned the corner across the street. Nick spotted it as it rounded the corner but it was too far away to see the license. Shaking his head, he immediately ran to the front steps only to find the door ripped off its hinges and lying on the floor inside the house.

He took out his gun just in case and entered the house. No- his and Juliette's house. _What would Juliette think of THIS?_ He wondered before his foot landed on Trubel's machete. A thrill of fear went through his body as he realized Trubel was _always_ carrying the machete; and if she wasn't carrying it on her in a fight- something bad must have happened.

He looked up and quickly surveyed the room. One of the walls had been punched inwards, several of Juliette's picture frames lay broken on the floor, the coffee table had been toppled over and there was blood on the walls, the floor, the couches- everywhere.

"Trubel?" Nick called out as he turned the corner and into the kitchen. Gosh he hoped all this blood belonged to the attacker instead of Trubel. What he saw next completely wiped his hopes away.

At the entrance of the door was a bloody kitchen knife and a dented red frying pan. Nick froze in horror as he spotted Trubel laying face-first in a pool of blood on the floor surrounded by broken glass, her smashed phone, and another bloody knife.

Nick put his gun back into its case and immediately ran to Trubel. He checked for a pulse and found one, but it was faint. "HANK!" He yelled as he turned Trubel over and shook her. His partner came to the entrance of the kitchen and froze. "We need an ambulance, NOW!"

Hank yanked his phone out of his pocket and turned around, dialing 911. "We have an injured female at Detective Nick Burkhart's house! Ambulance needed immediately!" He yelled into the phone. He shoved it back into his pocket and turned back to Nick. "Is she alright?"

"She's out cold and not responding." Nick reported as he heard the sirens from a few streets away. He gently lifted Trubel up from the pool of blood and carried her to the front door. By then, the paramedics had just arrived.

"Put her on the stretcher, sir!" The leading doctor called out the moment he saw Trubel in Nick's arms. Nick immediately laid her on the stretcher two doctors held out for him and they loaded her into the ambulance.

"I'm coming with her. Hank, can you call Wu and have squad cars patrol the area? I saw a brown pickup truck leave the street right after we arrived!" Hank nodded and got into his car. Nick climbed into the back of the ambulance and the siren blared on again as they took off down the road towards St. Joseph's Hospital.

*Time Skip – 1 Hour *

Trubel was put into the ICU and Nick sat right outside the room .The doctor inside had shut the blinds so nobody could see in; and Nick was getting more and more anxious by the minute. He had taken his phone and called Juliette little while ago. Juliette was horrified at the news and was cutting work to immediately come over. But it was taking forever. So instead, he called the Spice Shop.

"Nick?" Rosalee picked up.

"Rosalee? I need you and Monroe to get down to St. Joseph's Hospital. Trubel's hurt and I need you guys' help."

"Oh my god, Nick." Rosalee gasped. Nick heard her tell Monroe the news and then Monroe picked up the phone and told him, "Be right over."

Nick sighed as he clicked off his phone. How could this have happened? Who or what could have been strong enough to take on Trubel and win? Nick knew Trubel didn't go down without a fight so whatever had attacked her had got to have been very strong to make that much damage. Suddenly, the door to the ICU opened and ta female doctor stepped out.

"How is she?" Nick demanded as he got up from his seat to face her.

"She's got a concussion, three broken ribs, and bruises all over her face and neck. By the looks of it somebody tried to choke her. She's got various scrapes and bruises all over her body too and it looks as though she got kicked repeatedly." The doctor sighed. "She won't be conscious for a couple more hours, sir. Is she a relative to you or something?"

"She's a close friend of mine." Nick murmured. "Can I go in and see her?"

"Sorry sir, you can't." The doctor replied. "At least not for another hour. We had to sedate her earlier because she woke up and tried to fight her way out of the hospital room. That girl sure is strong. Whoever did this to her most likely didn't get away with it without a fight."

"Yeah." Nick replied nonchalantly as he sat back down on the seat. The doctor just nodded and walked off. About ten minutes later Rosalee, Juliette, Hank, and Monroe arrived.

"Is she alright?" Rosalee and Juliette asked simultaneously. Nick got up and told them exactly what the doctor had told him just moments before. Rosalee covered her face with her hands in horror and Monroe looked faint. Hank just sighed and looked down at his feet while Juliette immediately sat down next to Nick and put her hand on his shoulder.

"What the hell happened, man?" Monroe asked as he sat down on a seat across the narrow room. "Who- no, i mean _what_ , could have done this to Trubel of all people. She's a _Grimm_!"

"And I'm not." Nick muttered. Monroe frowned and Nick continued, "But that's what I'd very much like to find out." Nick replied. "Can you two woge for me and try to sniff out anything? The doctors gave me Trubel's clothes and they probably have the scent of her attacker on them." He handed the bag to Monroe and Rosalee.

Though he couldn't see them woge himself, he guessed they were doing it when both Monroe and Rosalee lowered their heads to the bag and took a deep sniff.

"Woah." Monroe yelped as he jerked his head backward. Rosalee turned her face away and covered her nose. Juliette and Hank looked expectantly at the two as they handed the bag back to Nick. Monroe and Rosalee exchanged a glance and sighed together.

" _Well?_ " Juliette interrupted. "What the hell did this to her?"

"Siegbarste." Rosalee confirmed as Monroe hugged her from behind. "Their stench is unmistakable."

Monroe, Hank, Nick, and Juliette all exchanged a glance with one another as they remembered their last encounter with the wesen. That had been over four years ago. Nick had ended up in the hospital like Trubel, Juliette had scoured the wesen with a pot of boiling water, Hank had almost gotten killed him, and Monroe had saved his life by shooting it with an elephant gun loaded with Siegbarste Gift. Fun times.

About an hour later the doctor returned and walked back into Trubel's room. Nick and his friends waited expectantly for her to return. Finally, after about fifteen minutes, the doctor returned and announced that Trubel was awake and they could go in and see her.

"I'll stand guard." Hank announced as he took Nick's seat right outside the room. Nick thanked him and he, Juliette, Monroe, and Rosalee all opened the door to the ICU room.

 **(This is the second fanfiction I've written where a female character has ended up in the hospital. O.O Am I just sadistic or what? Please leave a review- free cookies to those who do!)**


	3. What Friends Are For

**( A/N: Sorry this is late! Life's been crazy- here's the next chapter! )**

"Ah, on second thought- you two go ahead- we'll wait in the hall." Monroe said at the last moment. Nick turned back with a questionable look and Monroe shrugged and put his arm around his wife, "We think you two better see her first." Juliette nodded as Nick opened the door to the hospital room.

"Hey," Nick said aloud as he rapped on the side of the doorway to announce his presence. Trubel cracked a tired eye open and smiled as she spotted Nick. "Glad to see you're okay. You had us all worried sick. How do you feel?"

'Okay' wasn't really the word to use though. Trubel looked like she'd been through hell and back again. Her hair was a gravity defying mess and her left eye was swollen to a bluish color. A big white bandage covered most of her forehead from when Nick guessed she'd been knocked out, and it was already soaked red because of the blood from the wound.

"Feel like hell. Just glad to be alive." She answered bluntly as Nick pulled out a chair and sat down on it after placing it right next to her bed. Nick snorted. The young Grimm was so straight-to-the-point it was almost humorously predictable. "So, how bad is it?"

"What? Oh-well the doctors say your ribs are broken and you've got a concussion." Nick informed her, "So possibly three weeks, two at the least."

Trubel was silent for a while before quietly asking, "Did you catch the guy?" Nick paused before telling her no, the police were still on the lookout. Trubel shifted in her bed, wincing from the pain of the simple task. "Sorry about this." She finally said after shaking off the pain.

Nick looked at her incredulously. Of all the things to say, sorry was not something he would have expected to hear. "Why should you be sorry?" He asked, "A Siegbarste attack is nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault."

Trubel froze at the name of the wesen. "How did you know it was... _that_?" She asked quietly.

Nick opened his mouth to reply but Juliette cut him off, "Nick had Rosalee and Monroe help sniff out the thing that did this to you." Trubel immediately tried to look up to peer out the doorway, and Juliette added that they were both out in the lobby with Hank standing guard right outside.

Nick instinctively wanted to ask Trubel what significance the word 'Siegbarste' held, but bit his tongue- instead asking, "What happened in there, Trubel?" She looked at Nick and sighed, turning away. Nick exchanged a glance with Juliette and she shrugged. "Anything's useful to help catch this guy." Nick said quietly. "Hair color, what he wore, any particular things he said or did..."

"In particular? Hm, well- he was wesen." Trubel joked dryly. "But most of the time he was just _that_." Nick took notice that she refused to call the wesen by its actual name. "I never got a real good look at his face when it wasn't covered in wrinkles, but I think he had red hair- not sure though. He said he was a friend of mine at the door...before he broke it down and beat the crap out of me."

"He broke the door down?" Juliette asked and Nick nodded.

"Yeah, oh- and he had these big gloves on. You won't find any fingerprints." Trubel added. Nick cursed under his breath. _Just makes this whole thing easier_ he thought sarcastically. "And..." She stopped as she glanced at Nick again and pulled her face away. "The guy...he-uh..." Nick noticed tears starting to form in her eyes and Juliette stared at Nick with a baffled expression.

"What's wrong, Trubel?" Juliette asked as she leaned forward- concern written on her face. Trubel peeked over at Nick and sniffled.

"The guy...I met him before- years ago. Back when I lived with my foster parents-the ones I'd had for the longest time...back when I still had two people in my life that actually didn't try to immediately shove me into a mental house... they were really nice people- the two of em'. Almost like you and Juliette." Trubel sighed at the memories of a past Nick had never even gotten a glimpse of until now. "Then one day I remember coming home from...school I think...and this big monster came crashing out of the house. He had lots of...lots of blood all over him. And when he saw me I got scared, so I ran away." She turned to look at the two horrified faces of Nick and Juliette and confirmed, "He's the monster that killed the only parents I ever truly had."

"Oh my god..." Juliette gasped as she reached out and put her hand reassuringly on Trubel's shoulder- causing the girl to flinch. From surprise or pain, Nick didn't know.

"I'm sorry...I didn't know-" Nick started to apologize but Trubel cut him off-

"Never mind. It happened years ago and I know a lot more now than I did then." She says. Though she sounded tough, her eyes were still brimming with tears and her nose was red with emotion.

"How's she doing?" a voice interrupted from the doorway. Nick and Juliette both turned around to find Monroe, Rosalee, and Hank standing at the doorway- staring at the beaten up, tear-streaked Grimm laying on the hospital bed. Trubel immediately raised her hand to her face and wiped away any signs of tears.

"I'm fine." She muttered gruffly; as if the past few minutes of conversation had never happened. "It's nothing that hasn't ever happened before."

Monroe and Rosalee exchanged a look and Hank stood quietly behind them, taking the whole scene in. "So...umm...was the man who attacked you a Siegbarste?" Monroe asked quietly.

Trubel shivered at the word and nodded. Juliette opened her mouth to tell them who the attacker was, but Nick reached out and put his hand on hers. "This guy's had a very personal relationship with Trubel in the past." Nick informed them.

"A personal relationship? Meaning..." Monroe began but Rosalee shoved him in the side. "Uuh- I think we'll go back to waiting outside." The door clicked closed again as the three left the room awkwardly.

"I think I'd better sort things out." Nick announced as he stood up. "Juliette?" Juliette nodded back at him- _Stay with Trubel_ is what Nick had told her through one glance.

"I don't need anyone staying with me Nick. It's my fault I'm in this mess in the first place." Trubel protested. Nick sighed and turned back.

"Trubel it's not your fault. It's the fault of the guy who did this to you- and nobody else's." Nick replied firmly. "Juliette is going to stay with you while I go sort things out with Hank and the others." And with that, Nick left the room.

Closing the door behind him, Nick walked over to find Monroe and Rosalee sitting on the seats right outside the room. Hank was standing nearby and walked over to the three of them.

"Well Nick?" Rosalee asked. "Is she okay?"

Nick pauses before answering. "Well, I don't know if 'okay''s really the word- but she'll be alright in a couple of weeks." Rosalee gives Nick a look and he continues, "Yes, her attacker was a Siegbarste. But he was also the one that killed Trubel's foster parents."

"Oh my god." Rosalee, Monroe, and Hank all simultaneously swear as Nick finishes his sentence.

"Dude, that's brutal." Monroe groans as he puts his hand to his forehead and closes his eyes. "No wonder she was so upset. I mean- to lose somebody so much like family to a Siegbarste and then get tracked down almost a decade later...god!"

"Exactly." Nick says solemnly. "That's why I want cops to surround this place for all hours just in case this Siegbarste decides to come get another grab at Trubel."

"But we can't do that, Nick." Hank finally speaks up. "We can't leave officers outside this place for no reason- and without a sure notice that the guy will be back in the first place. The guy hasn't even been IDd yet."

"But we have a motive." Nick replies.

"Nothing we can prove." Hank responds.

"Nick's right though." Rosalee interrupts. "If this Siegbarste came back after almost a decade- nothing's going to stop it from coming back now."

"But i-" Hank's cut off by his cell phone ringing. He reached into his pocket and looked at Nick. "It's the Captain. He says another case just came up a couple miles away from your house, Nick." Nick bows his head down in frustration and Hank continues, "Looks like I gotta go."

"I'm coming with you." Nick replies immediately without thinking. Hank looks at Nick.

"Nah, Nick- I think I can handle it." He says. "You stay with Trubel- make sure you're there for her."

Nick nodded silently as Hank said goodbye to Monroe and Rosalee and walked off. "I think you'd better go back in and see Trubel, Nick." Rosalee said. "We'll stand guard out here if you need us."

"No, Rosalee." Monroe interjects, "You go in with Nick and see how Trubel's doing. I'll stand guard out here by myself." Rosalee shoots him an appreciative glance and Nick nods.

"Thanks." Nick says as he opened the door to the hospital room, Rosalee beside him.

As he stepped back into the ICU room, Trubel looked up and saw Rosalee standing there. "Hi Rosalee." She says. Rosalee returns the greeting and comes over to sit next to Juliette.

"Where's my machete? Did the cops take it away?" Trubel asked Nick- changing the subject of the previous conversation.

"What? Oh- it's in your bag- I grabbed it before I got into the ambulance." Nick replied. "Didn't want the police finding it a second time. But obviously you can't keep it in a hospital room or the doctors will take it away."

"Then I'm getting out of here." Trubel announced as she pushed herself upward and reached forward to remove the IV from her arm. "I'm putting all of you guys in danger just by talking to you."

"You can't leave, Trubel." Rosalee interrupts as she reached out and grabbed Trubel's arm to keep her from yanking out the huge needle. "You can't even stand up right now- and even if you could- what would you do? Go back on the run?" Trubel shot her a frustrated glare but Rosalee ignored it, "And yes- we're in danger- but that's what we're here for. Friends help one another. And remember, Hank and Nick are cops. Just because Nick's not a Grimm anymore doesn't mean he's defenseless. Plus," she woged into a Fuchspau, "You've got me and Monroe to keep you safe as well."

Trubel sighed. Her feelings were mixed. She felt guilty for putting them in danger- yet also a strange sense of happiness at the fact that she finally had someone watching her back and looking out for her. She had to get used to that too. "Fine." She said. "But the moment I'm able to sit up I'm out of here."

Nick and Juliette both replied, "It's a deal."

{ GRIMM }

"Is she finally asleep?" Juliette asked as she came back into the hospital room with two cups of coffee. Nick nodded as he took the cup and thanked her for it. Hank was still at the other crime scene, and Rosalee had gone back to the lobby to nap with Monroe.

"Yeah, finally. I also just got off the phone with the other officers and we got good news. It looks like the monster that did this didn't get away with it without leaving some blood behind." Nick replied as he turned to face Juliette. "We have search warrens up and spread around Portland for the guy so he won't be making an appearance any time soon."

"That's great Nick." Juliette answered quietly as she pulled out a chair and sat down alongside Nick by Trubel's bed. They sat in silence for a while, watching Trubel breathe slowly in and out with the help of the canuula in her nose. Suddenly, Juliette turned to face Nick and asked sadly, "When will this all just end?"

This question didn't surprise Nick. He leaned back in his chair and sighed. "I don't know. What with Adalind and the Royals and me being absolutely defenseless and all- I really don't know."

"I know, it's just that-." Juliette began before stopping and changing the subject, "Never mind. God, imagine what Trubel must be going through. This stupid son of a b**** actually decided to track her down after all these years just to try and kill her for something that her foster parents did so long ago?" She shook her head.

"Yeah. These Siegbarstes really don't let their grudges go." Nick replied quietly as he took a sip of his much-needed coffee. He then sighed and put his head in his hands. "This whole thing's a mess."

"Well at least she called and told you she needed help." Juliette said. "She could have _died_ there, Nick. You and Hank rescued her just in time."

"True, but we've already had far too many close calls." Nick replied. "Remember the Gedächtnis Esser that almost took her memories? The two Lebensaugers that took in young girls to shoplift for them? The Schinderdiv that was making Clay and other boxers fight his fights for money? Look at all these times Trubel's been the one ending up either getting hurt or killing by accident. She could have gotten more seriously hurt on any of those times."

"But she didn't." Juliette pointed out.

"She could have been." Nick retorted, "And if she did, it would have been _my_ fault for dragging her into this mess."

"No." Juliette replied distantly. "No, if you really think about it, these past four years almost everything has tracked down to Adalind. From your Aunt Marie dying, to putting me in a coma- which resulted in me not remembering you, to giving birth to her stupid baby which brought the Royals, TO IMPERSONATING AS ME AND _RAPING YOU_ TO TAKE AWAY YOUR POWERS!." Juliette finished- her voice seething as she glared at Nick, "And NONE OF THIS is your fault, Nick! So don't go blaming every little thing that happens to anyone on yourself when this whole big mess all tracks down to the b**** who started this, not you!"

Nick found himself leaning backward as far away from Juliette as possible. Talk about surprising- he'd never heard Juliette really snap at him before like that. "Alright alright. Don't wake Trubel up! You're right; this is Adalind's fault- not mine. But then why do I still feel so guilty?"

Juliette felt herself calm down as she took another sip of her coffee. "Probably because Trubel's still new at this and you're sort of her teacher. You know, you just don't want her to get hurt when you can't be there to help her. She's almost like family to us both."

 **(A/N: I really wrote myself into a corner with this chapter- and I have really no clue where this story is going; so comments and suggestions are appreciated! New update hopefully soon!)**


	4. You're a Grimm!

**Late update. I've been sick and busy with the adventures of life- sorry!**

 **To "111"- yes, that is a fantastic idea! The resistance, the Royals- Trubel's true parents. You are connecting my dots for this story. Thank you :)**

 **To "Hermione Burkhardt" -the idea was already in my head haha**

 **To "Guest"- Yes! I agree 100%! Nick/Adalind pairings just will never work out in my head, yet many other writers have written and agreed to the couple (which I respect their opinions). Juliette was a much better character in my opinion before the writers sunk her boat. If you sign in with a registered account- message me and we can chat! I love fellow Grimmsters~**

 **To "Melodysmom" Thank you for reading! I enjoy your works a lot as well!**

"The attacker's name is Jacob Stetson. 6"2' Caucasian male. He's been in and out of jail for assault and theft several times- not that that's a surprise." Hank told Nick over the phone from the precinct. "Born and raised in Regensburg, yet his last known address was Colorado. Wow, this guy's been running all over the place for years, and he's probably done a lot more than what's on the record and gotten away with it."

"Well he's not getting away with it this time." Nick replied, "We're going to catch this guy and put him back where he belongs- a jail cell."

"Damn right we will." His partner agreed before hanging up. Nick clicked off his phone and turned around to look through the window of the hospital room. Juliette was sitting next to Trubel, watching her as she slept. Turning the other way, Nick peered into the waiting room to find Monroe and Rosalee still sitting together; Rosalee half-dozing off and Monroe burying his nose in a newspaper.

"You know you two don't have to stay here." Nick said as he approached. "I appreciate your help, but don't you have to get back to the spice shop?"

"The shop can wait." Rosalee firmly replied. "We're staying just in case this Siegbarste bastard ends up coming back for a second hello. Anyway, if anyone needs us they'll call and leave a message."

Nick silently nodded his head and was about to go back to the hospital room to sit with Juliette, but Monroe stopped him. "Hey, Nick. I know a lot of stuff's on your mind, but it's not a good thing to keep all your thoughts bottled up inside. How about you come sit down and we can talk about it." Nick paused, considered the offer, then agreed to it- going over to sit down next to Monroe and Rosalee.

"So man, what's on your mind?" Monroe gently asked as Nick took the seat next to him.

"Just about everything that's happened to us in the past few weeks." He replied, putting his head into his hands, "So much has been going on...and I feel as though I'm not handling it as well as I should be" he admitted. "Adalind, Juliette, work, this... I feel like I'm just standing by watching all this happen without being able to do anything about it."

"That's not true, Nick." Rosalee said as she put her hand reassuringly on his shoulder. "You're doing the best you can, and none of this is your fault anyway- it's not like you can just predict when these kinds of things will happen."

"No, but I _should_ be able to deal with it better than just watch everyone around me be hurt." _Physically and mentally_ \- he thought, thinking of Trubel and Juliette. "And me, being what I am- I should be able to keep a lot of these things from happening."

"But Nick, the only way you'd be able to keep all these things from happening is for you to kill the all of the seven families, and every single wesen in Portland." Monroe said, "And that's not gonna happen because you're not that kind of guy. That's what makes you unique- you, being a Grimm yet not killing us- like others tended to do..."

Rosalee turned her head, motioning for Monroe to be quiet, as one of the nurses entered the waiting room. She wore a standard blue hospital uniform and had long blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. Her sharp blue eyes trailed over the three sitting in the room, and when she spoke- her voice was soft and gentle.

"You guys should go home, it's getting late." She said, "Your friend will be fine. We'll have staff constantly on the lookout for any signs of disturbance."

Nick dug his phone out of his pocket and found the time to be 6:30 already. How much time had passed since finding Trubel lying in a pool of blood on his kitchen floor, he had no idea- but he suddenly he felt awfully tired.

"We're staying here just in case." Monroe said, getting up. Rosalee joined in, standing next to Monroe to face the nurse. Nick was momentarily confused by their actions, until his cop instincts kicked in, picking up on the defensive body language.

There was a brief pause between the three, before the nurse announced, "I am not a threat to your friend. I'm just here as a staff member. I am not with the Family."

 _So she's wesen._ Nick thought as Monroe crossed his arms defensively, "Prove it." He said.

"Nothing" The nurse said- lifting her blue hospital uniform to reveal her white undershirt, "Here" she finished as she patted down her pockets. "No guns, no syringes, no knives, nothing. As I said before, I am not a threat nor am I with the Family."

Rosalee didn't seem impressed. She leaned forward and sniffed the woman's clothing- resulting in a chuckle from the nurse. "All you'll smell is a regular person wearing perfume." She said, "Because that's all I am."

"Not with you being what you are." Monroe put in.

"I could say the exact same thing to the two of you." The nurse retorted, "And not all of our kind act one and the same."

"Just as not all of our friend's kind follow the path of their heritage." Rosalee replied.

"I don't even know what your friend Theresa Rubel is." The nurse said, "I haven't seen yet- nor do I care to. I am just politely asking the three of you to leave this hospital and go home to get some rest. Especially you Detective Burkhardt, you look as though you've had a long day for a very long time."

Monroe and Rosalee turned to Nick and nodded, giving him the O.K. and the sign that they trusted the woman. Nick got up from his seat and stood behind them. "Fine, we'll be leaving. But keep a very high watch around her room and don't let anybody in or out without having an ID, understand?" He held up his badge for good measure. The nurse nodded.

"And if Theresa asks where we've gone, tell her we went back home to deal with things." He added.

"Oh, she won't be waking up any time soon. We added a sedator to her IV to keep her asleep. The girl needs her rest. She'll be out for about four hours at least." _So about two hours_ Nick mentally checked to himself, knowing full well Grimms heal much faster than regular people do.

After thanking the nurse, and making sure she was out of hearing range, Nick turned to his two friends and put his hands on his sides. "So" he said, "what was she?"

"Hundjager." Monroe whispered. "But she didn't seem to be with the Verrat or the Royals for that matter. And gosh man, you're so perceptive. Even without your eyes you can still pick us out of the crowd."

"That's what this is for." Nick replied, flashing his badge again. "Anyway, she was right though- Juliette and I need to go back home and deal with this mess...explaining the incident and such."

"Good luck with that." Rosalee said as she and Monroe got up and headed towards the exit.

"I'll need it." He replied before saying goodbye to his wesen friends before entering the hospital room. Juliette had fallen asleep by Trubel's side, so Nick gently shook her- careful not to wake the sleeping Grimm.

"Time to go?" Juliette asked drowsily, blinking sleep from her eyes. "Ugh. Home." She added as she remembered where she was and why she was there.

"Yeah." Nick replied. "Monroe and Rosalee went back to the Spice Shop already, and we should go too."

"Will she be safe?" Juliette asked, turning to the sleeping girl. Nick nodded. "Alright." She said as she got up and snatched up Trubel's bag with her machete inside before quietly leaving the hospital room.

{ GRIMM }

Trubel woke with a start to the constant electronic beeping noise of her heart monitor. Turning her head, she automatically took in her surroundings. Juliette was gone from her side, and she looked out the window to find the waiting room empty. Her bag was gone and the clock on the wall said 8:45. Judging by the dimness of her room, it was night.

She suddenly felt a pang of loneliness before immediately pushing the feeling away. She really was getting used to Nick and Juliette's hospitality. Too used to it. She didn't know how much money she was spending just by staying at the hospital at the moment, and who was paying for it. Was it Nick? Suddenly, she wanted to get out of the hospital as quickly as she could again.

She chewed her lip as she slowly forced herself into a sitting position, groaning as a rush of pain washed over her. _Pull it together Trubel_ she thought to herself as she yanked the IV out of her arm and placed her feet shakily on the side of the bed.

"Shit!" She cursed as she lost her balance and landed hard on the cold hospital floor, causing her to cry out. The hospital door opened and a pair of someone's feet hurriedly came running into the room.

"What happened?" A worried voice demanded, but Trubel couldn't respond. Her eyesight was already dimming but she caught a glimpse of a blonde nurse before everything went dark.

[ * * * * ]

When the young Grimm regained consciousness for the second time that night, she found the nurse just coming in through the doorway. In her hands she held a syringe.

"What's that?" Trubel demanded abruptly, shattering the calm silence in the room.

"Oh my god!" the nurse gasped as she woged into a hundjager, dropping the syringe onto the floor. "You're a Grimm!"

 **A/N: Where's this story going? I've got no idea! This is a rollercoaster that only goes up I think ("August Waters"- TFIOS)! But who's this mysterious woman and what're her motives? Please leave a comment- they're my lifeline.**


	5. Sharing Pasts- Befriending Enemies

**A/N: Sorry, I know this hasn't been updated in a long time (actually, a VERY long time...it's been more than five months) and I apologize to any of whom still follow this story. I've been busy with starting high school and the huge load of homework and social life that has come with it. And with Season 5 of Grimm already up and airing on Telivision, a lot has changed since the show's time period of when this fanfiction takes place.**

 **By the way, I forgot to mention that the nurse is around her mid 20s. 23-25 years of age. Not that much older than Trubel herself.**

 **Hope you enjoy~**

" **You're a Grimm!"**

She'd lost count of how many times she'd heard that sentence. It'd been spat at her by various wesen all her life (moments before they tried to kill her)- so she shouldn't have been surprised; but after staying by Nick's side and having him as a constant makeshift bodyguard for so long- encountering wesen on her own suddenly caught her off-guard.

For a moment, the two natural enemies locked eyes in a standstill before Trubel shot upright and backed as far away from the intruder as possible, adrenaline overpowering the shock waves of pain that went jolting through her body. The nurse immediately woged back into her human form and took a couple large steps backwards and held onto the door frame for support.

"What the hell do you want?" Trubel ground out as she grabbed the closest thing to her bed as a weapon, which just happened to be a stethoscope.

"I'm sorry, your friends didn't tell me you were a Grimm!" The nurse gasped as she slowly raised her hands up to show that she had no weapons. "It's been years since I last ran into one, and never here. I come in peace; I have no motive to hurt you."

"Where are my friends?" Trubel asked coldly, her heart still beating at what felt like a hundred miles an hour. She'd been lied to hundreds of times, and she certainly wouldn't trust a hundjager- the Royal's signature breed of wesen-SWAT team agents- when she was alone in a small room with no weapon other than a useless stethoscope. "What did you do to them?" The thought of what could have happened to Nick in his weakened, humanized state made her sick to the stomach.

"Calm down, nothing's happened to them. I sent the human and his girlfriend home to get some rest. And the other two that accompanied you here, the wolf and the fox, they left as well." The nurse said as she slowly shut the door behind her to prevent anyone outside in the hall from hearing in on their conversation. Quieter, she added, "Do they know about what you are? The Blutbad and the Fuschpau?"

Trubel decided to ignore the question, better to let this unknown stranger know as little about her and Nick's friends as possible, and instead asked her own question. "Who are you? Are you with the Verrat? What do you want from me?" She asked.

The nurse sighed as though she'd been asked that question many times. "No, I am not with the Royals. Or the Resistance." She said as she raised her hands up to show Trubel the bare skin on her palms, not brandished with the symbol of the Verrat. "And I don't want anything from you. As I told you before, I didn't even know what you were until a couple minutes ago."

Trubel felt her heart rate slow down a bit, her heart monitor's beeping slowing down with it. She calculated her thoughts for a moment before asking another question. "How do I know you're not lying to me and planning on killing me once I let my guard down?" She asked bluntly.

The nurse blinked before laughing. Trubel dropped her guard and stared in confusion as the nurse seemed to descend into a serious laughing fit. "What's...what's so funny?" Trubel said as she gripped the stethoscope.

"It's the fact that you've been asleep for over two hours since your friends left, and you're asking me if I'm going to try and kill you when you let your guard down. If I wanted to kill you, I would have already done so in the two hour period when you were asleep." The nurse said as her laughing fit subsided. "And besides, I have no beef with the Grimms. The last one I met actually helped me out big time. Though she was armed with a sword and bow, not a stethoscope."

Trubel guessed this was the hundjager's idea of a joke. But her joke held truth to it. And since the wesen hadn't already killed her, she decided she could trust her. For now. So she placed the stethoscope back onto the table, and the nurse smiled at the sign of a peace treaty.

"My name's Clarisse." The nurse said as she walked over to Trubel- any signs of cautiousness or hostility gone. "I haven't seen a Grimm in a long time. It's a pleasure to meet you, Theresa." She stuck out her hand.

"I'm Trubel. You can call me Trubel." Trubel said as she shook Clarisse's hand. "Nobody calls me Theresa."

"Nice to meet you, Trubel." Clarisse corrected herself. "You remind me of the last Grimm I met, back so many years ago. She was a good friend of mine, before she had to leave."

"What was her name?" Trubel asked, wincing as she leaned forward to come face to face with the nurse.

"Now, now. I may be wesen and you a Grimm, but I am still a nurse and you my patient. Settle down." Clarisse said as she pulled a chair up by Trubel's bedside. "Let's talk about you first. I'd like to hear a bit about you before you learn of me."

Trubel sighed. "There's nothing you'd want to know about me. I'm not all that interesting."

"That's not true. I can see there's something about you that holds a story. Plus the fact that you're a Grimm is enticing enough. If you don't mind me asking, who was the one who gave you the nickname 'Trubel?'

Trubel looked up at the nurse in surprise. This was the first time anybody had ever asked her that. Nobody had ever questioned where her nickname originated from, not even Nick or Juliet. They must have just assumed she'd come up with it to make herself seem tough and to give monsters a second thought before attacking her.

Before she realized it, she was telling the nurse all about her past." One of my foster families' dads came up with that nickname for me when I almost set their house on fire trying to cook bacon." Trubel said. "He'd come home from work one day and found me trying to put the flames out." She chuckled at the memory, "So he told me I was nothing but a source of trouble in his life, and the name stuck."

"Sounds like you caused a lot of trouble then." Clarisse said with a smile. But the smile soon faded into a look of sadness. "You were a foster kid?" She asked.

"Yeah..." Trubel replied, looking away. "I never knew my parents. I was just always being bounced from one foster family to another. Every time I thought the happiness would last, they would find out I was crazy because I could see wesen, and they'd kick me out to the next family who'd come along and eventually do the same." Her face darkened. "Except for this one family who kept me around for a long time. Longer than any of the other ones. They just assumed I was some 'special needs' kid who had very vivid hallucinations or something."

"What happened to them...?" Clarisse asked quietly. Trubel sighed as the memories came flooding back.

"They got murdered. By a Siegbarste. I never knew what kind of feud the guy had with my foster parents, but it was personal."

"And was this the same Siegbarste that ended up landing you here in the hospital?" Clarisse asked. Trubel stared at her in silent surprise. Clarisse just pointed to herself and said, "Hundjager, remember? I can smell him on you. He reeks."

"Yes. He was. He was the same one." Trubel ground out quietly. Just talking about the monster sent shivers up her spine.

Clarisse, seeing that the Siegbarste was not an easy subject for Trubel, decided to change the subject. "Okay, that's enough about you. You can hear about me now." Trubel turned to curiously look at Clarisse again.

"I was a foster kid too. I know the pain of being one." Clarisse began. "I never knew my parents either. I was just raised until I was around twelve by this family of Eisbiebers. They didn't know what I was, and I didn't know what they were. But then I woged for the first time when I got angry over dropping one of my foster mom's favorite cups. She wasn't happy about that. Or me being a hundjager."

Trubel listened in silence as tears began to fill Clarisse's eyes. "So yeah, like you- I was tossed from foster family to foster family. And the problem was, hundjagers are known to not have a good reputation. Many people don't understand that not all of our kind are the Royals' dogs. We're just regular people too, just like everyone else." She spat.

"Yet no. Nobody wanted me. Just for what I was. What I am. Many people told me I didn't belong with them. That I belonged with the Royals. I was sick of it!" Clarisse's face rippled as she angrily woged into her wesen form. "Every person I meet, even your friends earlier out there in the lobby, everyone assumes I'm working for the Royals. Or for the Verrat." She looked up at Trubel and stared deep into her Grimm's eyes. "Your eyes are dark. When I look into them, I don't see myself anymore- I see what everyone else sees: a monster. But is that truly who I am?"

"I think I understand how you feel." Trubel said slowly as she reached her hand out and gripped Clarisse's. At the touch, Clarisse woged back- tears now streaming down her face. "Up until I met a certain person, I'd thought I was the only person who could see the monsters. I didn't know what I was, or why I was this way...all I knew was that I could see the wesen, and they always wanted to kill me. That's why I could never hold a foster family. I would always eventually see and try to kill a wesen, or a wesen would see and try to kill me. Sometimes my foster parents _themselves_ were wesen, and I ended up either killing them or running away. So eventually I was put into several mental institutions, and I couldn't stand all the wesen there. So I ended up on the run until I found another Grimm. Someone I could finally relate to."

Clarisse and Trubel sat there in the hospital room together quietly. Both of them strangers who had just met each other had found a fellow person they could relate so deeply to.

"What was this Grimm's name?" Clarisse finally asked.

Trubel hesitated. Nick wasn't a Grimm anymore. What if Clarisse had already woged in front of him and found him to be human? That would be kind of hard to explain. But Trubel didn't really want to lie to Clarisse either. Something about her Trubel just could relate to so deeply. She felt as though Clarisse didn't deserve to be lied to. "Nick Burkhardt." Trubel replied.

Clarisse was silent for a moment, her eyes wide. Trubel looked up at her and asked nervously, "What's wrong?"

"Burkhardt. I knew I recognized that name. My best friend, a Grimm, a couple years back that I helped fight the Royals with. Her name was...

"Kelly Burkhardt."

 **I honestly don't know where the heck that idea came from. But I wrote it out, and it seems to stick. I'm not sure how exactly this story will play out, but I know the general direction I'm headed in. I hope to update soon.**

 **And yes, Trubel and Clarisse bonded fairly quickly. But I think when two people can relate over such traumatic pasts...it doesn't take much to become friends.**

 **~Please leave a comment. Pathofmyown.**


	6. Complications

**A/N: This is a quick update- now that I've officially rebooted this story, I'm getting really into it. It's gonna get interesting. Hope you enjoy.**

"This is the second time." Wu said as Nick pulled his car up to his and Juliet's driveway. "Nick, you're a lucky guy. For you and Juliet to have been out of the house _twice_ when something so utterly crazy like this occurred. Is there something going on I should know about?"

"I've got no answer to that." Nick said as he and Juliette got out of the car. "All I know was I got a phone call from Theresa and she was calling for help. So I got here as quick as I could."

"Is she okay? Hank called earlier and told us you got to her in time, but how's she doing? Her blood was all over the floor... among other things." Wu said. "Do you know who the attacker was?"

"She's in the hospital. Injured. Not critically, but it's pretty bad." Nick replied. "And no, I don't know who this 'Jacob Stetson' is. Never heard of him. All I can infer is that he must be really strong"

"Strong is an understatement." Wu said dryly. "And if you don't mind me asking, why's Theresa Rubel staying at your house anyway? I thought you said she was a criminology student. Shouldn't she be studying at a college or something?"

Nick bit his lip, racking his brain for a lie good enough to suffice Wu's curiosity. Luckily, he didn't have to. A black car pulled up across the road, and a familiar brown haired woman stepped out.

"Well crap...it's the FBI again." Wu muttered as he spotted the woman coming towards them.

"What the hell do they want now?" Juliette hissed into Nick's ear. "I thought we got rid of them after the Weston Steward case got cleaned up!"

"I haven't got any idea.." Nick hissed back. "Well, actually no- I have a pretty good idea after what Trubel told me about her." Juliette shared a knowing glance with Nick and he continued, "But it looks like they're here, and they probably mean business."

"Well _this_ is none of _their_ business!" Juliette retorted. Nick shot her a look to be quiet as the woman came closer, and Nick recognized her to be Agent Chavez.

"Hello again Detective Burkhardt, Ms. Silverton." Chavez greeted as she came up to the two of them. "This is the second time, I believe, that something happened here at your house. Do you mind telling us what happened?"

"Yes, I mind." Nick said as he turned to face Chavez. "This case has absolutely nothing to do with the FBI. You're not involved, and neither are any of your agents. So there is no reason whatsoever for your people to be here."

Chavez turned to look directly back at Nick, "Yes, but if you remember, the girl staying at your house- Theresa Rubel- _was_ involved with one of our agent's deaths. Making us concerned about her wellbeing."

"Well there is nothing for you to be concerned about." Juliette interrupted. "Theresa was attacked in our house and got injured, so she was sent to the hospital. That's all there is to it, and that's all you need to know. Now Nick and the police are investigating who the attacker was. And all this…" Nick stepped out of the way as Juliette moved in until she came face-to-face with Chavez, "has _nothing_ to do with you, _or_ the FBI."

Chavez remained silent for a moment, her eyes narrowed- studying Juliette. Nick, Juliette, and a shocked Wu all stood there in silence, waiting for the FBI agent to say something. Finally, she spoke, "I stand corrected. As you say, this does not concern the FBI. I apologize, Detective Burkhardt, for showing any such concern over Ms. Rubel, though I do hope she recovers soon." She turned away to walk to her car but stopped and looked back. "I do believe, however, Detective Burkhardt, that Ms. Rubel is a very _strong_ young woman- and hopefully she'll pursue a **path with the FBI.** I hope to hear from you soon."

As Chavez got back into her car and drove away, Nick let out a deep breath he didn't know he'd been holding. "Oookkkaaaay then. That was intense." Wu muttered as Nick turned to look at him. "Do you want to go inside, assess the damage?"

Nick glanced at Juliette and she nodded. "Yeah. We'd like that."

{ GRIMM }

"Oh god." Juliette said as Wu led her and Nick past the yellow security tape and to their house's front steps. The door had been ripped off its hinges and it lay splintered and broken on the floor, and the air reeked of blood. "This son of a…" Juliette trailed off as she surveyed the caved in wall, broken picture frames, and blood stains sprayed like paint against the walls.

"And this isn't even the worst of it. Hope you can handle this, Juliette. Just warning you. The kitchen's reaaally nasty." Wu remarked as he led the two of them into the kitchen.

Juliette put her hand over her mouth to keep from gagging at the sight before her, and Nick put his arm reassuringly around Juliette. The floor near the sink was covered in a pool of blood and the remains of what looked like a broken glass cup. Trubel's bloodied hand prints were left on the cabinets and even a handful of her hair lay soaked in the blood.

"Absolutely brutal."Wu said. "Just a second, I'll be right back. I'm going to go grab the stuff we bagged when we tried to run the fingerprint tests." He quickly left the room, leaving Nick and Juliette alone in front of the crime scene.

"We're going to catch the man who did this." Nick said through gritted teeth. Juliette looked at him to see his green eyes alit with anger. "He's not going to get away with this. I'll hunt him down if I have to. This is just…" This time it was Juliette's turn to place her touch on Nick to reassure him.

"You'll catch him. I know you will." Juliette said. "Plus, if he's as vindictive as he's said to be, he'll be back." Nick gritted his teeth at her remark, though he knew it was sadly most likely true.

"When he comes back, we'll be ready for him." Nick replied.

"But will Trubel be ready for it?" Juliette thought aloud.

Nick was silent. He had no answer to that.

{ GRIMM }

It had been an hour since the rest of the police had left the house. Wu had offered to stay back and help Nick and Juliet clean up the house, but they had declined, telling him to go home and get some rest.

Nick kneeled over on his hands and knees, scrubbing the remains of the blood stains off the floor and cabinets with a wad of tissues and soap. He looked up as Juliette came down the stairs with a small garbage box in her hand.

"Feel familiar?" Juliette asked as she set the small box down near Nick so he could throw away the bloodied tissues.

"Very." Nick replied. "Actually, too familiar. This has happened way too many times than it should have."

"Well," Juliette said, "it's an additional package to the gift of being a Grimm."

"And it's something I really wish you didn't have to deal with." Nick said. "And after all that's happened, perhaps something you won't have to deal with ever again." He added. Juliette just bit her lip and looked down at the blood stains still visible on their wooden floor.

The silence was interrupted by Nick's phone ringing. "I'll get it." Juliette said as she grabbed it off the counter. "It's Trubel." She said as she read the caller ID. "Want me to answer it?"

"Go ahead." Nick said. "I can't." He raised his hands to show her the blood on them.

Juliette nodded and switched the phone onto speaker. "What's up, Trubel?" She said into the phone.

"Hi! Juliette. Is Nick there?" Trubel's voice asked.

"Yeah, he's here with me. Cleaning up. You're on speaker by the way." Juliette replied.

"Great. Anyway, I wanted to tell you guys that the nurse who's been watching over me here...she's wesen." Trubel whispered.

"Wh-" Juliette gasped.

"I know." Nick cut Juliette off, "Monroe and Rosalee interrogated her and found her to be trustworthy. Wait...she didn't try to kill you, did she? Did she find out you were a Grimm? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm fine. Better than fine actually." Trubel responded. "She's a Hundjager but she's not with the Verrat. Or the Royals. Her name's Clarisse. She's actually really nice."

Nick almost choked at that. A nice Hundjager? Who would have ever heard of that? Juliette just stood there with her mouth hanging open. "What...Trubel, be careful."

"Yeah, I'll be careful. Believe me, if I didn't know how to be careful, I wouldn't even be alive to talk to you right now." Trubel replied snarkily. "Anyway, Clarisse's actually a really great person. Plus she was a foster kid, like me." Nick blinked at that. He'd never heard Trubel talk about her past so openly and without emotion. "Oh, oh! By the way, Clarisse said back when she was younger, she was working with a Grimm to fight against the Royals. And she says that Grimm's name was Kelly Burkhardt. Do you know her? Is she a relative of yours?"

Nick was silent. Juliette glanced at Nick and he didn't move or say a word. "Nick? Are you still there? What's wrong?" Trubel asked anxiously.

"Yes, I know her. She's my mom." Nick replied. "Remember I told you one time you should meet her? Kelly Burkhardt. That's her. She's my mom."

Trubel was silent for a few moments before finally saying, "...Oh. Oh yeah, you mentioned a mom once...I guess I just never really paid attention to that."

"Yeah. Anyway, did she mention anything else about her? Does she know where she is?" Nick asked.

"Uh, nope. She just said that your mom and her worked together a couple years back to fight the Royals. She didn't really go into details. And she said that after a while your mom broke off connection with her. Probably she figured it wasn't safe anymore."

"Sounds like my mom. She never likes keeping a solid connection with people...I guess it's just her Grimm thing." Nick replied.

"Yeah, anyway...I just wanted to let you guys know about Clarisse. And your mom. So you won't be surprised when you come to see me tomorrow." Trubel said.

"Thanks for the heads up."

"No problem." Trubel replied. Nick and Juliette smiled as they heard Trubel let out a loud yawn. "I'm gonna go now. I'm sleepy."

"Wait, Trubel?" Juliette said.

"Yeah?" Trubel asked.

"Take care." Juliette murmured softly. "We'll see you first thing tomorrow morning."

"You too, Juliette. Bye Nick, Juliette."

"Bye Trubel." Nick and Juliette said simultaneously. Juliette quietly switched off the phone and turned back to Nick.

"And you didn't bother to tell me this before now?" She demanded.

"Tell you...what?" Nick asked, oblivious.

"That the nurse watching over a Grimm just so happened to be wesen?" Juliette said angrily. "Didn't you think I should have known that? You said it would be safe for Trubel to stay in the hospital without us!"

"Juliette." Nick began, standing up, "I didn't know the nurse was wesen until Monroe and Rosalee told me. Remember? I can't see them anymore. So I just chose to trust their judgement. And I didn't find the need to tell you because I trust them. They said that the nurse was trustworthy, so I believed them."

Juliette sighed. "Okay fine...but Nick, next time I want to know about it if something like this happens, alright? I'm just worried. I care about Trubel too."

Nick looked back down at the floor. "I know. We both do."

"God I hope she'll be okay…" Juliette sighed.

* Scene Jump -St. Joseph Hospital's Parking Lot*

Jacob rolled down the car's window. His face was disguised by a black ski-mask, an olive green scarf wrapped around his neck, and a pair of sunglasses over his eyes. He looked up at the hospital and grinned.

"I'm coming for you, little girl. You think the police will stop me? By the end of this week, your head will be on my table as my trophy. Nothing stops a Siegbarste. Nothing."

 **A/N: Well, that was enjoyable to write. Please, PLEASE leave a comment. They're as important to me as Dianna is to Adalind.**


	7. Nightmare

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews from you all! The more I get, the faster the updates because they motivate me!**

 **And in responses..**

 **To 111: Yeah! I know...the hiatus is horrible, isn't it? Plus it's ridiculously long. Sorry for the late updates. My excuse is- life.**

 **To NiceStory: Yes, I have considered becoming a writer- but me being only fourteen years old- I also have a lot of other interests in mind. Writing is just a hobby for now. And thanks for your kind words! I love writing stories that go off the rails of the original story's plotlines~**

 **To Hermione Burkhardt: I am going to put that chapter here! Thanks for the reminder! Hopefully Nick and Clarisse will become friends, since he seems to somehow manage to become friends without almost anyone- but who knows- you'll find out! And about Jacob, oh I will have so much fun with his character...huehuehue!**

 **To Trubelina: Trubel is my favorite character too! And I also love the old Juliette (if you know what I mean). I too do not enjoy the NickxAdalind pairing due to the circumstances of their being together. And by the way, Trubel's background in this story is mostly based off of my imagination. Thank you for the kind words, and welcome to !**

 **Merry late Christmas and have a happy New Year!**

There he was. He was lumbering violently around her, knocking down everything in his path. His horrible wrinkled face, the squared jaw full of razor sharp teeth, the hooked nose, the pointed ears, and the pitch black eye sockets pierced by those terrifyingly yellow glowing eyes; all of it was seen in clear and vivid detail.

She tried to get up. To run, not to fight- but she couldn't. Her body wouldn't obey her will- her adrenaline- her fear. Instead she just barely managed to strain her neck enough to survey her condition, only to her horror find her body twisted and mutilated. Suddenly, she realized somebody was lying next to her. Craining her neck more, she turned her head to come face to face with the one man who had accepted her as who she was: Nick- battered, broken, bloody, and dead. Her blood ran cold.

Her focus on Nick was cut off as Juliette's shriek of horror was cut short as the Siegbarste snapped her neck with a flick of his finger. Her body collapsed down into a crumpled heap, and her blood seeped through the floorboards. Tears began to stream down her face at the sight of the two people who had ever taken her in, dead. Killed right before her eyes. And worse, she couldn't do anything about it.

She turned her head to spot Rosalee screaming in agony while holding a bloodily murdered Monroe. Wu was standing at the doorway, madly firing shots at the rampaging monster, but the bullets did nothing more than ricochet off the Siegbarste iron-like skin. With one swat of his hand, he knocked the man out, his skull making a sickening cracking noise as his brain was crashed in: most likely resulting in his immediate death.

She yelled out as the pain settled in. And the overwhelming sense of fear. Suddenly, Jacob Stetson was looming over her, his human face on show- his green eyes gleaming murderously as he stared down at the terrified girl.

"It has been WAY too long!" The man laughed. "I've wanted to do this for WAY too long! Longed for you to feel the horror of everyone you've known, everyone you've ever cared for- dead. Killed by my hand." His face suddenly was shrouded in the darkest shadow- his eyes and insane grin the only features visible as ripples crossed his face as he woged into the monster. The monster she'd been running from her whole life. The monster who had killed the one family she had had long ago, and the one family she had had now. The monster raised its hand, its knuckles bloody, to deliver the finishing blow.

"Join your family, you loathsome creature." Were the last words she heard before the world peeled away and she felt herself being thrust into an eternal pit of darkness, falling blindly for all eternity.

{ GRIMM }

Nick entered the hospital room to find Trubel fast asleep on her bed, and he couldn't help but grin at the sight of the young Grimm finally sleeping so soundly. But that grin fell as he remembered _why_ she was sleeping where she was- and who landed her there.

In contradiction to her hopes, Juliette had not been able to come with Nick to visit Trubel due to an emergency call-in from one of her patients begging for help for her sick kitten. Nick didn't really dig too deep into it, and Juliette briefly told Nick to apologize to Trubel as she hurriedly got herself dressed for work and headed out the door.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted as his phone buzzed. Nick hurriedly left the room, closing the door silently behind him, as he took the call out in the lobby. The caller ID read "Spice and Tea" as he flipped the phone on and put it to his ear.

"Monroe and Rosalee. What's up." Nick spoke into the phone.

"Hi Nick." Rosalee said, "Sorry we couldn't come over this morning, the shop's been really busy today and we haven't gotten the chance to."

"No problem." Nick said, "And if you were wondering, Trubel's still asleep. She called me last night; told me she and the nurse met yesterday and actually became _friends._ "

"Whaaat?" Came both Monroe and Rosalee's startled response. "Friends? She's a Grimm and that nurse's a _hundjager_ of all things. They're like, natural enemies."

"Yeah, sounded just as crazy to me too." Nick said, holding back a laugh. "But I guess everything's been crazy lately, so this shouldn't be a surprise."

"Yeah dude, us being what we are yet still being...you know,, friends." Monroe said from the background, "It's not all that crazy now that you think about it. "

Nick was about to reply but was cut off abruptly by a terrified scream coming from the room he had just left. "Trubel?!" He shouted as he shoved the phone into his pocket and swung the door open, rushing inside.

He found the girl sitting upright in bed, her eyes wild with terror and her heart monitor letting off sounds similar to that of a fire alarm. "Trubel? Trubel?" Nick asked as he frantically shook her with both hands, "Look at me, Trubel! What's wrong? Trubel?"

The door swung open again as the same blonde nurse came into the room, a look of dread on her face as she saw Trubel staring off with a dazed expression on her face. Nick turned just in time to see the woman come up next to him and roughly push him aside.

Nick automatically swept his hand to his holster, but the nurse spoke before he could do anything. "You're Nick Burkhardt? The Grimm?" She asked. Nick looked at her,completely caught off guard, but she cut him off before he could say anything, "Trubel told me what you are, so I'm assuming she also told you what I am. So don't be surprised when I do...this."

And without warning, her face fell away as tan and black speckled fur sprouted from every pore on her face and her nose elongated into a snout as she woged into a Hundjager. She glanced briefly at Nick with her blue eyes before turning her attention back to completely focus on Trubel.

"Look at me. Hey, look at me." The Hundjager said urgently as she grabbed Trubel's shoulders as Nick had done before. "Don't go into shock. Look at me. It's me, Clarisse. Tell me what's wrong! Trubel. Trubel!"

Nick watched in silent shock as Trubel slowly raised her eyes to meet the the Clarisse's. The Hundjager clearly flinched at looking at the eyes of a Grimm, but instead of retracting like most of the wesen Nick had encountered whom had woged in front of him- she kept her eyes locked with Trubel's- regardless of the fear that was evident on her face.

"I'm going to say this once. And once only." She growled slowly. "SNAP OUT OF IT!" Nick reflexively grabbed for his gun again as the nurse opened her mouth as wide as she could, revealing her sharp teeth, and _yelled_ the order.

"WOAH!" Trubel yelled as her eyes suddenly snapped back to full focus and her Grimm senses went into overdrive. Reflexively, she raised her hand up and slapped the Hundjager across the face. Hard. The nurse immediately retracted in surprise and quickly backed away.

Trubel stared at the nurse for a few silent moments before the reality of what had just happened sunk in.. "Oh my god, Clarisse! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to do that!" She turned her head in surprise as Nick dropped his hand from his holster. "Nick? What're you doing here?"

"I, uh, I came to check on you." Nick replied. "Are you okay?" He asked, turning toward Clarisse. She stood near the wall, her hand on her cheek- which was tinged a reddish color. "Trubel didn't hit you too hard, did she?"

"No. Uh, it just surprised me." Clarisse murmured. "Trubel, are you alright? What happened?"

"It was a dream. I had a nightmare." Trubel replied, her face darkening as the memory came back to her. "It was nothing really. I'm fine now."

"Was it about…?" Clarisse trailed off, cautiously checking on Trubel's reaction to the inquiry.

"Yeah. It was about him." Trubel replied promptly, "It was kinda one of those dreams where the bad guy gets it all in the end...ya know what I mean?"

"Yeah, I do. I had a similar dream after my attack." Nick replied. "But that's not going to happen, okay? We're not going to let that happen."

"Damn straight." Clarisse added.

"Wait, you got attacked too?" Trubel asked, worry on her face, "When? What happened?"

"It was a couple years ago." Nick said as he settled down onto a chair and motioned for Clarisse to take a seat near him. "You see, there was this Siegbarste that had this big bad history with Hank…"

{ GRIMM }

 **A/N: Very sorry this update took so long. I've gone back to school and finals are coming, so I'm busy. Updates may be delayed (but not for more than two weeks, I promise!) Please leave a comment. Trubel needs them.**


	8. One Step Closer for Jacob Steston

**A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in so long. I have no excuses, I just didn't get around to it, and for that I apologize.**

 **But in responses…**

 **To 1monster2: Thanks! I have a writing style?**

 **To Whitepriest27: I hated what the writers did to her as well. Her transition into a completely evil hexenbiest was way to sudden and forced. There was no transition whatsoever. They absolutely ruined her character. And now she's back as "Eve" and I think it's complete bull.**

 **To Nicestory: Thanks! I love it when stories continue as well! And as I told another comment, I have a writing style?**

 **Thank you for your kind words.**

[ *TIME SKIP- 3 days later*]

"You good?" Nick asked as Trubel stepped into the house, Juliette opened the door wider as Trubel limped in.

"Just fine." Trubel replied, her words tense. But things clearly weren't fine. She was squinting her eyes, grinding her teeth, and clutching her ribs with her hand.

"You should have stayed in the hospital for another day."Juliette murmured as Trubel groaned. "You're completely cleared of any medical charges 'cause Nick's a cop, remember?"

"No." Trubel replied firmly as she sat down on the first couch she could to take a rest, "I couldn't stay in there another day. I'd go crazy. Even with Clarisse around."

"It's fine. We understand." Nick replied as he carried the bag with Trubel's machete into the house. "It's amazing how I haven't gotten a call in so long. Normally I'd be interrupted by a call by no-" He was cut off by a ring from his phone.

"You jinxed it." Juliette said, a half-smile on her face as Nick shut his eyes and sighed as he answered the call.

"Hank. What's up?" Nick asked as he switched his phone onto speaker.

"Where are you, Nick? Are you taking a day off work or something?" Hank asked.

"No, I'll be late today. I'm helping Trubel home again." Nick replied.

"She was released this early? It's only been a few days." Hank said, surprise in his voice.

"Well, no. The doctors said she _should_ have stayed in the hospital for a week or two, but this is Trubel- remember?" Nick replied.

"Yep. It's her alright." Hank said. "Anyway, when're you gonna get here?"

"I don't know. Half an hour or so? Why?" Nick asked.

"You should come now. We've got a case. I just got a report that the owner of a small shop spotted quote 'a enormous monster with a wrinkled face like a troll.'" Hank said, "The owner of the shop said she quickly fired a round at the creature but it escaped by getting into a brown pickup truck. She also noted that the license had been covered by a sheet of metal, so she couldn't get the number. Said this happened two days ago yet she was too scared to tell the police. Sound familiar?"

"It sounds like him." Nick replied. "I'll be there."

"I'll be there too!" Trubel said from the couch. Nick turned his head to look at her, and her face was deadly serious.

"Trubel...I don't think-" Juliette murmured.

"I don't care." Trubel cut her off. She raised her head and looked Nick in the eyes."I'm going."

"And…" Nick added, "It looks like Trubel's coming too."

{ GRIMM }

Hank told them the address and Nick sped off down the road to the destination, Trubel in the backseat. She was quiet, struggling not to drift into unconsciousness though she'd told Nick repeatedly she was okay. She had to hear what the woman had to say and see the creature that Nick said the sketch artist would draw from the woman's memory.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Nick asked for what seemed like the hundredth time. Trubel bit her lip in annoyance and nodded slightly. Nick was silent for a moment, his eyes shifting in the mirror for a moment to look at her before moving back to the road. "Was that a yes?"

"Yes." Trubel said tightly. "Please don't ask me that again. I'm gonna go insane."

"Okay." Nick replied, his eyes fixed on the road as he pulled to a stop at the crime scene. "We're here."

He and Trubel opened the doors and stepped out. Nick offhandedly giving Trubel support as they walked their way towards where Hank was sitting by the woman on a bench. Her face was pretty typical for someone who had just seen a monster. Unsteady and eyes wide as she gave descriptions to the older man standing next to Hank, whom Trubel presumed to be the sketch artist because he was holding a book and was using a pencil to draw in it.

"He had yellow eyes I think…" She told the artist, "But I'm not sure. I only saw him for a few seconds after his stuff got caught and he ran away."

"That's alright." Hank said as he turned to see Nick and Trubel walking towards him. "This is my partner, Detective Burkhardt. He's here to ask you a few questions before we run the DNA checks on the clothes."

"Alright." The woman agreed as she stood up, "Wait, who's this?" She motioned towards Trubel.

Trubel looked at Nick with a blank expression and opened her mouth but he cut her off before she could say anything. "This is Theresa. She's my sister." Nick lied as he placed his hand on Trubel's shoulder.

"Nice to meet you Theresa, I'm Ashley." She said as she stuck her hand out, "What are you doing here, though? And what happened to you? You look like you've been in a huge fight."

Nick looked at Trubel and Trubel caught the hint to explain, "Oh, I was in a fight. It was bad." She laughed slightly as she pointed at her face, "My brother just wanted me to ride along so the guy wouldn't get the wrong idea again."

"Well come in, come in." Ashley said as she opened her shop's door and beckoned the two Grimms in. "Sit down, Theresa, Detective."

"I'm going back to the precinct to see if I can get a DNA match on the guy." Hank told Nick as he got back into his car.

Nick nodded as Hank drove away. Then he and Trubel followed after Ashley. The two people stepped into the shop and Nick looked around, observing the scene. It was a fashion shop. Coat racks that held shirts, jackets, pants, hats, and other clothing were everywhere and there were several boxes nearby stacked on top of one another that Nick assumed were for shoes.

"So, Ashley, could you explain to me what you saw?" Nick asked as he and Trubel took a seat next to each other on a small bench near the changing rooms. Trubel winced as she sat down and Nick looked worriedly at her, but she just sighed and shook her head as she placed her hand at her side.

"He was wearing a mask. Or at least he must have been.." Ashley said as she pulled a chair up in front of the two and sat down, "His skin was very wrinkled and he had a square jaw...and I swear his teeth were pointed, though they couldn't have been. Unless he was wearing some sort of teeth braces."

Trubel looked annoyingly at Nick and he shook his head slightly. _Just roll with it_. He told her with his eyes, and she just sighed.

"His ears were weirdly pointed. Like a devil's." Ashley shuddered at the memory. "He was also really tall and big, and he was wearing a giant black jacket with long cargo jeans. And his eyes were the worst part. They were glowing yellow like a demon's."

"And how did you find this monster?" Trubel asked. Nick shot her a glance but she ignored it, staring straight at Ashley. "Was he in your store, or out on the street, or what?"

The woman seemed momentarily taken aback by the blunt question before answering. "He was in my shop, looking around. But he was wearing a large green scarf over his face."

Nick opened his mouth to ask her a question, but Trubel beat him to it. "And how did his scarf come off?"

"He tried to buy a black ski mask and a pair of one of the darkest sunglasses, and I'd asked him what it was for, and he simply tried to walk past me without paying after he wouldn't tell me what he was buying it for." Ashley told them. "I tried to tell him to stop, but he wouldn't, so I shouted for security and as he turned around, his scarf caught on one of the coat racks and it came off."

"And then you saw the person underneath?" Nick asked, putting his hand on Trubel's as she was about to speak again.

"No, it was just the...thing." Ashley said, her face scrunching up in fear from the memory.

"Did he tell you anything?" Nick asked.

"Well, as he was coming to the checkout counter, he asked me if I'd seen a girl going under the name of 'Trubel.'" Trubel faintly tensed, and Nick squeezed her hand slightly. "I told him no, and then he seemed to completely snap and he started to just walk past me without paying."

"Okay." Nick said, as he and Trubel stood up. "Thanks for the info, we'll keep our eyes out for a guy with a mask matching your description."

"Thank you." Ashley murmured as she stood up too.

"And we'll also keep an eye out for the girl under the name of 'Trubel.'" Nick said. "Whatever this guy wanted from her obviously wasn't for anything good."

Trubel briefly glanced at Nick, and their eyes caught each others. Then, Trubel purposefully caught her hand on a belt hanging from one of the racks, causing the whole thing to come crashing down.

Trubel tried to move out of the way of the falling rack, but because of her injuries, she didn't escape in time. Instead it fell down on top of her and she yelled as it pinned her to the ground.

"Theresa!" Nick yelled, mentally making sure he didn't call her by her nickname. He quickly pulled the rack off of her and tried to help her up, but caught himself at the look on her face.

Her eyes were wide yet deadly serious as she stared straight at Ashley. Ashley's eyes herself were wide and scared as she stepped back in fright.

"A Grimm!" She said as she raised her hands up, "Please don't kill me! I didn't do anything! I swear!"

Nick quickly pulled Trubel up and the two stood next to each other and watched the scared women back slowly away to the wall.

"Arrest me if you need to, just please don't kill me!" She begged again. "I had nothing to do with the Siegbarste! I swear!"

"What else did he say to you?" Trubel demanded as she reached for the belt around her waist that held her sheathed machete.

"H-he said that he was looking for a Grimm!" Ashley told her, arms still in the air, "And he told me that I couldn't tell anyone or he'd **kill** me!"

"So why'd you chose to tell?" Trubel asked, her hand now firmly gripping the machete.

"Because I couldn't let a Siegbarste threaten me and get away with it! It wouldn't be right!" Ashley replied. "And I think I'd get some protection if I told the police about him. Maybe then he won't be able to kill me."

"He's not going to kill you." Trubel said as he dropped her hand from her side, "Because _I'm_ going to kill _him_. But don't worry, I'm not going to kill you. I'm no evil Grimm like in the stories."

Ashley relaxed and put her hands down, but then her eyes got wide again as she asked, "Oh my god, did he do this to you?"

"He did." Trubel replied, her voice venomous, "That's why I'm going to get him back. Violently."

"And," Nick added, "Don't get the wrong idea and tell him you told us, because if you even mention to anyone that you talked to a Grimm, I'll arrest you for assault of an officer and make sure you're sent to prison for the rest of your life.

Ashley clearly believed his bluff and gulped nervously. "How do you know about this, Detective? You're a Kehrseite!"

"Because Theresa's my sister. And she's a Grimm." Nick answered. "Now answer my question, are you going to tell **anyone** about our little meeting, or do I have to arrest you for assault?"

Ashley gulped again nervously, "D-don't worry Detective! Your sister's secret's safe with me!"

{ GRIMM }

Trubel barely made it back to the car before collapsing in the passenger's seat from exhaustion from the small investigation trip. Nick drove home without a word, a million thoughts and questions buzzed through his head, but he decided not to wake her and let her get some rest.

Juliette had worriedly asked what was wrong as Nick carried the sleeping Trubel in and brought her upstairs to her room. He'd explained to her what had happened at the crime scene, and Juliette had been shaking her head the entire time- a frown on her face.

{ GRIMM }

When Trubel came to, it was mid-afternoon according to the clock on the wall. Nick was nowhere in sight, he'd probably gone back to work, but Juliette sat by her bedside with a book in her hand.

"Hi Trubel." She said as the young Grimm sat up hesitantly. "How do you feel?"

"Like a rack just fell on top of me." She replied, "Did Nick tell you what happened?"

"He told me what he knew anyway." Juliette replied, "He wanted to know what type of wesen the shop owner was though, but he didn't want to wake you up." Trubel lowered her eyes. "He's at work by the way. You've been asleep for about an hour."

"She was a Coyotl." Trubel said.

"A Coyotl, that's like a Coyote, right?" Juliette asked. "I've met some of my patients whose dogs have been in fights with coyotes. They're supposed to be really nasty."

"Well this one wasn't like the ones I've run into." Trubel replied. "She wasn't nasty at all, she had the ferocity level of Bud's."

Juliette smiled at the thought of Bud's stammering and nonstop chatter. Suddenly, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She took it out and flipped it on. "It's from Nick." She reported as she opened the text message. Then her face went serious, "The sketch artist finished his drawing of the suspect."

She turned the phone for Trubel to see, and on the screen was a very vivid and detailed drawing of Jacob Stetson's wesen form.

The highlighted yellow eyes stared deep into Trubel's, and she gripped her fists.

{ GRIMM }

Jacob Stetson walked out of the changing room, his feet crunching on the broken glass that lay in the pool of blood. Police officers that had been on watch lay on the floor, killed- their skulls bashed in and their bodies crumpled and broken.

"Y...you...fool…" Came a weak voice from behind him. He turned to find the dying Coyotl laying on the ground, a huge shard of broken mirror embedded in her neck.

He woged under his ski mask and turned to look at her, his yellow eyes meeting her orange ones. But she stared straight back at him, unafraid. "The Grimm...she's going to kill you…"

Stetson scoffed as the Coyotol stared to choke on her own blood, but she held her gaze. Then, ironically, she smiled.

"She didn't kill me...you know… Because I didn't...do anything. But you...she's going to kill you…" She repeated, "And you...oh, you must have done something _real_ damn bad for this…" Suddenly, her eyes widened and her body tensed and she began to convulse. The shudder passed and she sighed as her body relaxed as she said her final words, "I hope you go to hell."

Stetson frowned as Ashley woged back into her human form and she died.

"Yeah. Right."

 **A/N: I have the majority of the ending to this story written out, and I plan to end it in two or three chapters from now! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, and sorry for the long wait.**


	9. Family

A/N: This chapter is a bit short, but really really sweet. And I think it's the perfect transition between the living hell of the past chapters, and what's to come. Plus two chapters in a row is kind of my way of redeeming myself for my terrible updating skills.

In replies to my wonderful comments:

To 1monster2: well, in the coming chapters, I may "beat up characters every five sentences" hohoho just you wait

To Randomsfanfic: Yes ma'am. I'm gonna keep on writing! ^_^

To 111: I plan to end the story in several more chapters, true. But I may write a short afterstory too, so I don't know if that'd count as a chapter or not~

Please enjoy.

"You guys better get over here right now." Wu said over the phone, "Ashley Rodriguez was just murdered in her shop."

"What?" Nick and Hank exclaimed in shock. "We're coming right away."

They immediately got out of their chairs, threw on their jackets, and were out of the precinct and into their cars- zooming down the road with the sirens blaring.

They pulled up in front of the shop, yellow tape already blocking the crime scene. Four or five patrol cars were parked randomly with their lights still on, and several paramedics were urgently carrying out stretchers holding two injured police officers.

Nick and Hank both took out their badges as they walked past the yellow tape and entered the scene. The door to the shop was left open and inside was a total mess. The bench Trubel and Nick had sat on an hour ago had been thrown against the wall . Bullet holes riddled the walls and there was blood everywhere. Coat racks had been knocked down and various clothing items lay strewn across the floor- ripped, shot, and bloodied beyond use.

Forensics were all over the room- taking samples of blood, bullets, splinters, broken glass, anything they could find. Nick and Hank walked past them all until they found Wu. He was kneeling in the changing room, one of the doors was open and Ashley'd body lay on the floor, face-up. Nick put his hand to his eyes and sighed. Wu looked up and then stood to greet him and Hank.

If Nick and Hank had thought that the rest of the shop was a mess, the changing room was in tatters. Blood sprayed all across the room, and two dead officers lay in the doorway. More bulletholes were found in the doorways and the stalls, and there was a mirror that had been smashed to pieces. Glass littered the ground over pools of blood like pieces of driftwood in a river.

"We've got ourselves a true serial killer out here." Wu said grimly, "We'd set twelve officers up guarding the shop, all of them heavily armed, and this guy-thing-whatever the hell this murderer is, somehow managed to get past it all. And ten of them were killed."

"Ten of them? Of our officers?" Hank asked, shocked, "All killed by one person?"

"Apparently." Wu replied. "We'd set up security cameras and he immediately shot them all. As if he'd already known where they were placed. We've sent them in to try to resurrect the footage."

"Have we got a match on the suspect yet? Any DNA, blood, anything?" Nick asked half heartedly.

"Nothing yet. The guy was really careful. Must have had gloves on or something to protect his hands. We haven't found any fingerprints, and none of the blood in here belongs to anyone but Mrs. Rodriguez and our officers'." Wu said.

Nick, Hank, and Wu stood a silent vigil as the forensics came in and took photos of the Ashley.

[ *TIME SKIP-4 HOURS LATER*] [*SCENE JUMP-MONROE AND ROSALEE'S HOUSE*]

"Juliette? Hi, it's me. I can't tell you why right now, but you and Trubel have to leave the house. Now. Go to Monroe and Rosalee's house. Sorry, I don't have time to explain. I'll be there in a couple hours. Lock the doors and the windows and stay there." Nick said over the phone.

Juliette opened her mouth to reply, but the phone went dead immediately. She sighed and stood up and walked up the stairs and to Trubel's room. She peeked in to see the young Grimm fast asleep on her bed.

This is the life of a Grimm, and Nick's not even one anymore! She thought to herself as she walked into the room and shook Trubel slightly. She awoke with a start before calming after realizing it was only Juliette.

"We gotta go." She announced. "Nick just called, told me to take you with me to Monroe and Rosalee's. Said he didn't have time to explain, and just to do it."

Trubel, confused and disoriented after just waking up, wordlessly got out of bed, grabbed her machete, and followed Juliette out the door.

{ GRIMM }

Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette all sat at the table quietly discussing things. Trubel lay on the couch fast asleep again until the quiet was suddenly interrupted by a ring at the door. Monroe quickly got up and unlocked and opened the door to find Nick and Hank standing there.

"Hey. How's Trubel?" Was Nick's immediate question.

"What? Oh, she's fine. Asleep. Totally out of it." Monroe replied, "The doors are locked, the windows are locked, and Rosalee's been keeping an eye out for anyone outside- but so far nothing's happened. But dude, just how long does Trubel need to recover? You only took a couple of days."

"She was hurt a lot worse than I was." Nick replied. "Thank you so much by the way for doing this for us. I didn't even know if you guys were even going to be here or not, I just told Juliette to get Trubel here as fast as I could without even checking in with you first."

"Hey no need for apologies, man." Monroe said as he welcomed the two men into his house, "Rosalee closed the Spice Shop today because we haven't been getting a lot of business since...you know, the whole Siegbarste thing. News travels fast."

Nick nodded as Juliette came up to him, and the two shared a brief kiss before they all headed towards the table. Rosalee had woken Trubel, and she too joined them as they all sat down.

Once everyone was seated, Nick spoke announced the bad news. "Ashley Rodriguez was found murdered at her shop four hours ago. She was killed by a stab wound to the neck with a chunk of broken glass."

Rosalee gasped and put her hands over her mouth, Monroe put his arms around her in support yet his eyes held an equal amount of shock, Juliette's mouth dropped open, and Trubel just sat there with her eyes wide in disbelief.

"Ashley! We used to go to her shop to buy clothes!" Rosalee exclaimed, "She was one of the nicest ladies I'd ever met!"

"And the damn best tempered Coyotl I'd ever met!" Monroe added, "Oh my god, I just can't believe she's dead…"

"We're assuming the same monster that put Trubel into this situation is responsible for this." Hank said, " But not only did he kill Mrs. Rodriguez, he also took down ten of our officers in the process."

"This is horrible… Trubel what're you going to do?" Juliette asked, addressing the elephant in the room quietly.

Trubel was silent for a moment, her eyes dark as she thought. "I...I'm gonna leave Portland." She announced.

"What?!" Came the simultaneous reply from all five of the people standing in the room.

"You can't leave." Nick said firmly as he stood up, "There's no stopping this guy. He is going to track you down, and he's going to kill you. And I'm not letting that happen."

"You can't stop me, Nick! You're human, remember?" Trubel snapped as she stood up to face Nick, "I can't stay here BECAUSE he'll do EXACTLY that! He'll find me, and kill me, and if I'm with you guys- he'll kill you all too! I told you this back when I was first in the hospital, and it's still true! You're all in danger just by me being here!"

"Trubel..wait, we can-" Rosalee began.

"NO, YOU CAN'T." Trubel cut in, "You can't do anything! Didn't you hear a word Nick just said? Ten officers were killed by this guy! TEN ARMED OFFICERS! Nick, Hank, Monroe, Rosalee, a whole police force...nobody can hold this guy! I've got no choice but to leave! Or he'll kill everyone!" At this point Trubel's eyes were beginning to water, but she didn't care. She didn't care if she looked weak. She didn't care if she died, even. All she cared about was making sure the people she loved didn't get hurt.

"And...and..It's probably best if I get out of here as soon as I-" Her words were cut off as arms enveloped her and she was suddenly caught in a tight hug by Nick.

"I told you, I don't care." He said, "Remember what I said back at the shop? Remember how I lied that you were my sister? Well Trubel, you are a sister to me. Even if I can't see them anymore, you've risked your life for our investigations, you've gotten to know me and Juliette and Monroe and Rosalee, and we all care about you. You're part of our family now."

Trubel felt more arms on her as Juliette and Hank joined in, wrapping themselves around the two Grimms. Hank murmured, "It's true. You're one of us now."

Trubel felt her eyes begin to water again, but this time a different feeling started in her chest. It wasn't pain anymore, it was warm...and tingly. And it only flared more as Monroe and Rosalee walked over and joined in, making their hug one big circle of arms and smiles.

"Don't worry, Trubel. It doesn't matter if he comes after you. We'll all be waiting. And even if he manages to take out a cop, an ex-Grimm, a Blutbad, a Fuchsbau, and a true Grimm- we'll all fight for you. And even if he manages to kill us all, we'll go down fighting."

"I couldn't agree more." Monroe said, "Even if you scared the crap out of me the first time we met, now you're part of us."

"You're part of me, Monroe, Rosalee, Nick and Hank." Juliette added, "And we're never letting you go."

"You're one of us, Trubel. You're family."

A/N: I can't emphasize enough on how much I loved this family back when it was still together (*cough,cough* before Juliette went insane) and I hope I brought back some of the love that I believe the characters have for one another. Even if they never let it out in words. Please review. Next chapter to be posted soon! I promise.


	10. Prepare!

**A/N: SO SORRY. Yet again here I am with a late update. And not only that, but this chapter is really short (But only because it needs to be! I plan to finish this story within three more chapters!) Please enjoy.**

[Time Skip- Two days]

Three hours had passed since they'd left, and the all of the group except Juliette and Hank (the both of whom were at work) sat at the table waiting for the call. Nick's phone sat in the center of the table, all of them quietly staring at it- as if at any moment it would ring.

"He said it'd take around three hours." Monroe muttered impatiently, "So why hasn't he called yet?"

"You know him, he's always so…" Rosalee closed her eyes as she thought of the word, "jumpy. He'll call, we just have to wait."

"We _have_ been waiting." Trubel muttered as she absently turned her sheathed machete over in her hands.

Nick opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted by the ring of his phone. He immediately reached out and switched it onto speaker, "Burkhardt."

"It's me, Clarisse." Came the voice from the phone. Trubel immediately put down the machete and leaned over towards the phone.

"Is Bud there?" She asked, straight to the point as always.

"H-here!" Came the skittish response of the Eisbiber,

"Did he get the message?"

"He got it." Clarisse replied. "Bud certainly knows how to get a message around fast. All he had to do was tell one person and ask for the message to be passed on. Bud just got off the phone with him. The message's recorded."

"Let's hear it." Nick said,

They heard Bud shuffle around as he brought out his phone. "Here goes." He muttered as he turned on the recording of their conversation.

"I hear the Grimm wants to set a meeting?" Stetson's voice asked.

"You heard right." Bud's voice replied, his words tight and nervous. "Says to meet at the forest twelve miles south of Forest Hills Storage. Tonight. At nine."

"I'll be there." Came the flat reply as the phone clicked dead. The recording ended with a beep.

{ GRIMM }

"Do you think he'll, I dunno, bring his buddies?" Trubel asked as she scooped a pile full of spaghetti up off the serving dish and plopped it onto her plate. It was seven o'clock and Monroe, Rosalee, Trubel, Clarisse, and Hank had met up at Nick and Juliette's place to eat dinner.

"I would...think not…" Monroe said as he stared as Trubel picked up the fork and dropped it back down carelessly onto the table and began devouring the food with her hands, "Siegbarstes are mostly solitary."

"I doubt he'll have anybody with him." Clarisse put in, as she reached out for the spaghetti plate without batting a second eye at Trubel's eating habits, "He seems to have too much pride staked on this fight."

They ate in silence for a while. Trubel's vigorous slurping of spaghetti the only sound in the whole room.

Trubel finished her meal and stood up with the plate in her hand to go put it in the sink, but before she could leave- Nick interrupted her with a tap on the shoulder. "Wait, first, who here is going to come to with Trubel and me tonight?"

"I'm in." Hank said, raising his hand as he pushed his chair out and stood up to join Nick.

Clarisse stood up too and woged into a Hundjager, "I'll be there. Definitely."

"We'll be there." Monroe said as he put his arm around Rosalee and woged into a Blutbad. Rosalee nodded in agreement as she woged into a fuchsbau and she and her husband stood up.

"Don't leave me out." Juliette said as she too stood up. "I may be human, but I'm not weak. I've already hurt a Siegbarste before." Nick smiled at the memory of Juliette splashing a pot full of boiling water into the face of a Siegbarste that had been attacking Nick.

Trubel's eyes warmed as she saw the whole table standing up in unision. The wesen woged back to their human faces, and they all were smiling- as were Nick and Juliette.

 **A/N: The next chapter will be posted tomorrow, and the battle will FINALLY begin! Please look forward to it, and I hope you enjoyed this short chapter! Comments? :)**


	11. Battle Front

**A/N: "The days of hiding in shadows are over, but the nights of vengeance have just begun." ~Eve of Distruction**

 **It's finally here! The long awaited battle between the Grimm and the Ogre! I hope you enjoy!**

 **** **Nick arrived at the trailer in his car. Quietly getting out and locking the doors, He came up to the trailer and rapped on the door three times. The door immediately opened and Hank quickly ushered him inside.**

"Where's Monroe and Rosalee and Juliette?" Hank asked as Nick stepped into the trailer and he shut and locked the door behind him.

"They're coming." Nick replied. " Trubel?"

"Here, Nick." Trubel replied from further inside the trailer. She stood next to Clarisse and was dressed in a night black sweater underneath a bullet proof vest. Her hands were covered by black leather gloves, and she was wearing the same leather boots she'd been wearing when she had first met Hank and Nick. She swung her machete's case over her shoulder and sheathed the knife in it.

"Put this on." Clarisse murmured as she handed Trubel a large, navy-colored coat. "It'll hide the machete. And I put three daggers in there just in case."

As Clarisse and Trubel exchanged words, Nick opened the weapons cabinet and pulled out a large suitcase, and placed it on the table. "What's that?" Trubel asked, walking over with Clarisse to stand by Nick in front of the table.

"You'll see." Nick murmured. He unstrapped the two leather belts that held the case, and opened it. Inside was the biggest gun Trubel had ever seen.

"Woah…" Trubel gasped as Nick lifted up the gun. He smiled and turned, holding the gun out to Trubel.

"This is the Siegbarste Gewehr." Nick explained as Trubel took the gun from him, "And this is the weapon that Monroe used to kill Stark. If you dip it into... this-" Nick turned and picked a large bottle of reddish liquid off of one of the shelves- "this stuff's called Siegbarste Gift. It's a poison specifically made for killing Siegbarste. It shatters the wesen from the inside out."

Trubel stared down at the gun she was holding and then at the large bottle of poison Nick was holding, before handing the gun back.

"I'm not using this, Nick." She muttered, looking down at her feet.

"What?" Nick asked, "Why? Trubel, this is the only way you'll be able to kill him."

"No. I know this sounds selfish, and it probably is- but. I want to kill this guy my way. I don't want him to die an easy death. I kind of want to...I want to ask him something."

"Trubel. That's suicide." Clarisse said softly. "You need to kill this guy quickly. If you give a Siegbarste even a moment off-guard, he'll take advantage of it and you could die."

"Just by doing this, I've got a 50-50 chance of surviving." Trubel replied "I want to do this my way. Nick, Clarisse. Please."

Clarisse and Nick looked at each other and both reluctantly agreed; knowing that this was Trubel's fight and not theirs.

Three raps on the door interrupted them, and Hank walked over and opened the door, letting Monroe, Rosalee, and Juliette in.

"We're here." Monroe announced as he came in. "It's 8:48" he said as he checked his wristwatch, "I'm surprised he isn't here sooner."

"Gives us more time to prepare." Juliette said as she walked over to Trubel and gave her a hug.

Suddenly, the sound of an approaching vehicle hit their ears. Hank grabbed at his holster and walked quietly to the side of the window and shifted the curtain a bit to look out. He bit his lip nervously and turned to look Nick in the eyes before nodding. Juliette unembraced Trubel as the young Grimm moved to stand beside Nick.

"Well there goes our time to prepare." Nick muttered. He glanced at Trubel and saw she was trembling, her hands gripped tightly into fists, but there was a fire in her eyes that Nick had never seen before.

"Here. At least tell me you'll take the poison." Nick said as he placed the gun on the table and held out the bottle of Gift to Trubel. "Just, have it on you in case you need to use it." Trubel nodded and took the bottle before shoving it into one of her pockets.

"You ready?" Hank asked, tension evident in his voice. Trubel nodded curtly without turning to him, her eyes were now locked rigidly on the trailer door. "Remember, Wu and the Captain are hiding outside the trailer just in case things get out of hand."

"It won't matter." Trubel replied. "I'm going to kill him."

"You sure will." Hank agreed, deadpan.

Their short conversation was broken as a loud banging noise came from outside and and the trailer shook. Then an angry shout came from outside.

"I've come to kill you, girl!" Stetson yelled, "Come out of hiding and face your death!"

"Nick, Clarisse. Juliette, Monroe, Rosalee. Stay here. Don't come out until the fight's over. Whatever the ending." Trubel whispered as she opened the door of the trailer. "And Clarisse, make sure nothing happens to Nick- okay?"

Clarisse nodded and Nick watched morosely as Trubel stepped outside to face the battle that could possibly end her life. And there was nothing Nick could do but watch.

 **{** **GRIMM** **}**

"It's a good thing that the police saved you." Jacob said as Trubel stepped out into the clearing, the door shutting and locking behind her. "Now I get to make you suffer twice before you die."

Fear flared up in Trubel's heart, but she pushed it down as she squared her shoulders. She was here to fight. To survive. Not to die. She was going to win this battle, she assured herself, and avenge her parents' deaths.

She pulled two daggers out of her pocket and held one in each hand as she faced her opponent. She'd fought with two weapons at once before, and she found it actually quite effective when she was outnumbered in fights; and in this case she was outsized, so she needed all the extra armory she could use.

"I'm here to kill you. Not to chat." Trubel replied candidly,. "And if I can't, it won't matter to me. Either I'll kill you, or you'll kill me. Only one of us is going to walk out of here today, and I don't plan on dying."

"Well neither do I." Jacob replied as he woged into a Siegbarste and charged dead-on at Trubel.

The monster raised his hand to deliver a blow and Trubel ducked under it, bringing the knives up as hard as she could into his arm.

She immediately jumped backward, distancing herself from the monster as he shouted in pain. The two blades embedded in his arm stuck out like candles on a birthday cake as he struggled to yank them out of his arm. Trubel calmly slipped the third dagger, one that was quite a bit bigger than the others, out of her pocket and waited for the Siegbarste to attack again.

"You...you b*tch…" The monster growled as he wrenched the daggers out of his right arm and threw them as far away from himself as he could and into the forest. "You actually penetrated my skin...you'll pay for that!" He attacked again, quicker this time, and used his leg to sweep Trubel's feet from under her.

But Trubel saw through his attack. She jumped over his leg and brought the third dagger down hard into his shoulder. He bellowed in anguish as Trubel pushed a small trigger on the handle and the knife protruded into three prongs, cutting through the Siegbarste's skin like paper.

He dropped to his knees in pain as he struggled to remove the third knife from his shoulder, and Trubel spoke. "I did my research-" She said coldly as she unsheathed her machete, "on your kind's weak spots!"

She swung the machete down at the monster's other shoulder, but he caught her hand before it could penetrate flesh. "Well then... you should also know my kind's not the type to go down so easily!" He yelled as he tightened his grip and dislocated her wrist. Trubel grunted as her hand popped and her machete fell from her hand to the ground. Stetson took advantage of her momentary weakness by delivering a hard blow to the stomach.

Trubel lurched forward, nausea sweeping over her, before the monster immediately followed up with a barrage of blows to the face. The Siegbarste shoved the dazed Grimm down face-first onto the ground."I hope you enjoy having broken bones." He sneered,"Because you'll be having so many before I'm finished with you!" And with one foot, he raise it up and stomped it down hard on Trubel's left leg.

Trubel howled in anguish as what felt like fire erupted from her ankle all the way through her body, and pain seemed to radiate from her bones. Immediately, she knew her leg was broken.

Before she could register what happened next, the Siegbarste bent down and grabbed her by the hood of her jacket, and with one huge movement sent her flying across the clearing and back-first into a tree.

Blackness threatened to cloud her vision as Trubel landed hard on a bed full of pine needles, but she was glad for the bullet proof vest Nick had given her earlier-he was sure her back would have broken on impact without it.

She reached her good hand into her coat pocket, and to her shock found that the bottle of Siegbarste gift wasn't there. Frantically, she searched the clearing and found the bottle a couple feet away from where she lay, its contents half emptied onto the ground.

The Siegbarste calmly walked towards the broken girl. His grin remained plastered to his face as he raised his hand. Trubel's eyes widened in horror as he revealed her machete, clutched in his bloodied hand.

She knew she was done. This was it. She'd been on the run for so many years, killed so many wesen, and been through so many foster care systems and mental asylums...and it had all lead to this.

But at least she had found Nick. Finally someone who had seen the same things she had, had done the same things she'd done. At least she knew she wasn't crazy.

She closed her eyes and prepared for the inevitable.

And with one quick motion,

the monster swiped the machete

into the flesh

of a blonde haired girl.


	12. Flat Line- On the Double Time

**A/N: Don't lie. You didn't see this coming.**

 **By the way, I feel like people have stopped reading this…?**

INSTANTLY rapid firing exploded from the bushes as the Captain and Wu revealed themselves. The trailer's door slammed open and Nick and Hank came out shooting, followed immediately by Monroe and Rosalee- both fully woged and armed with various weapons.

"CLARISSE!" Trubel shouted as the Hundjager was slashed open from the shoulder to the waist. Clarisse fell to her knees and collapsed on the ground in front of Trubel, blood flowing out of her wound and onto the grass. "No, no, no, no, no...Clarisse.! Don't die on me. You can't die on me…" But the girl's eyes were shut and blood seeped at a nonstop rate from the open gash in her chest. Trubel frantically pulled the glove on her good hand off and awkwardly turned Clarisse over onto her back, pushing the glove onto her wound to try to stop the bleeding.."Stay with me, keep your eyes open. Don't go, don't leave me…"

But she knew she couldn't save her. The wound was too severe, and Trubel knew it. She'd killed too many people, and sustained too many injuries to know when a wound was shallow enough to survive from or deep enough to die from- and this was a fatal wound. But she couldn't believe it. She just couldn't.

"T-Trubel…" Clarisse groaned. Trubel immediately looked down at her, relief evident on her face as she realized Clarisse was still in her Hundjager form, which meant she was still alive. But her brief flash of hope was gone in a moment as a stream of crimson trickled out of the corner of Clarisse's mouth.

"Clarisse...stay with me. Just stay with me. We'll get you to a hospital. You'll be alright…" Trubel tried reassuring her, but even to herself her words sounded empty and dead.

"No…" Clarisse murmured sadly, "No...you know it too...I-I can't live from this…" She choked as blood began to fill her throat, and she coughed,

"No...no..Clarisse..." Trubel began, but the Hundjager interrupted her.

"Trubel...whatever you do. just...just remember….don't lose yourself…don't let anger control you...and-and...and promise me you won't die, alright?"

Trubel looked down at her and nodded sadly. "No….no.." Clarisse groaned as she reached out her hand to touch Trubel's, "Promise me. Promise me you won't die. Whatever it takes...just... live."

Trubel pushed back tears as she spoke, "I promise...I promise, Clarisse. I'm not gonna die."

Clarisse smiled weakly. "Thank you...Theresa..." She murmured. Trubel's eyes widened at the name.

Suddenly, Clarisse's breathing hitched and her eyes widened as her body went rigid. A shiver went through her body and she clenched her teeth as she woged for the last time. The fur on her face disappeared and was replaced by human skin, and her teeth reformed themselves and flattened into human teeth. Blonde hair sprouted from her head as her ears transformed back into their regular shape, and her round animal eyes dilated and became a darker shade of blue. She cried out in pain as the transformation finished and her body finally relaxed.

And then her heart stopped, and Clarisse stopped breathing.

 **{** **GRIMM** **}**

It wasn't real. It couldn't be real. Yet the body that lay on her lap, and the blood coating her hands and soaking her jeans spoke otherwise. She didn't cry. She couldn't cry. Because the thing that lay on her lap couldn't be Clarisse. It simply couldn't be.

But she knew. Oh, she knew. Trubel knew it was. In her heart she knew it was real. The words. The body. The blood. The promise. It all was real, everything was real.

It was real.

 **{** **GRIMM** **}**

"Trubel! Trubel!" came a voice. It was frantic and deep and...familiar. But who did it belong to? She didn't know.

"Trubel! Look at me! It's me! Look at me! You need to look at me!" Came the voice again. Why wouldn't it just leave her alone? She tried blocking it out of her mind, but it kept on, relentlessly. "Trubel! Dammit Trubel, it's me! It's me! NICK!"

Nick? That name sounded familiar. Faintly, Trubel opened her eyes and saw a figure through the haze. He had black hair and held a gun. A gun. The Siegbarste gun. Clarisse. Her parents. Nick. Portland. The Grimms. It all came flooding back to her. She remembered. She remembered why she was there.

"Nick?" Trubel demanded as she pulled herself out of the haze and back into reality. Her ears were immediately met with the rapid sound of gunfire as she saw Captain Renard, Wu, and Hank all firing rapid barrages of bullets at the Siegbarste.

And then came the pain. Her head felt like someone had put a bullet through it, and her leg felt like someone had replaced it with a grease fire. She gasped as her vision was blotted out by darkness for a moment, and she fell over into Nick's arms.

"You're hurt Trubel….we need to get you out of here." Nick said urgently. "This's gone too far...we need to get you to a safe place so you can-" His words were cut off as the Siegbarste yelled and punched the Captain across the face, sending him flying into a tree. Wu immediately cut off their firing and ran to help him, and Hank looked with wide eyes at the raging monster before retreating after Wu.

"Now... we can finally end this." Stetson growled as he wiped off blood and grime from the cuts the bullets had managed to make on his arms and he turned towards the two Grimms.

"Oh no you won't." Nick replied as he stood up, his gun out and pointing straight at the monster. "You've done enough. If I were you, I'd get out of town, fast. Backup's coming soon and when they find you, you're done."

"Unlikely, Kehrseite, I've escaped from the government for YEARS." The Siegbarste roared. "The army, the navy, the police force...I've seen it all. Portland PD is nothing to me." And without warning, he reached his hand out and slapped Nick across the face, hard. His gun went off, the bullet shooting randomly through the air and into the forest, as Nick fell face first into the pine needles- knocked out in an instant.

"No!" Trubel shouted. Stetson threw his head back and laughed as Trubel pushed Clarisse off of her lap and desperately dragged herself through the bloody pine needles and towards a tree.

"Trying to hide _now_ , are you?" The Siegbarste mocked as he walked calmly over to where Trubel lay, her hands clenched in the pine needles. "What are you planning on doing, throwing pine needles at me? You're dead. Just give up."

He reached down and picked Trubel up by her shredded jacket hood. "Your wrist's dislocated, your leg's broken, you're covered in blood, and your friend's dead. You've got nothing left to live for."

"NO!" Hank shouted as he raised his gun up to shoot. The Siegbarste turned to face him and raised Trubel up as a shield.

"Stay out of this...Hank…" Trubel groaned as the Siegbarste wrapped his arm steely around her neck in a chokehold. "I'm done...just let him do this…"

"Smart girl." The Siegbarste said, "Lower your gun."

Hank looked helplessly at Trubel but she just nodded. Her eyes met Hank's and Hank turned away as he placed his gun reluctantly back into his holster.

"Go help Nick…" Trubel said. Hank looked back up at her sorrowfully before running off to help his partner.

"Finally. My revenge. Any last words?" Stetson asked Trubel, as he looked her directly in the eyes. Trubel raised hers to meet his- unafraid. Black met yellow and the Grimm ironically smiled in the face of death.

"Sure." She replied calmly, raising her left hand up, "For… CLARISSE!" She bellowed as she raised her fingers, drenched in a yellow sticky substance, and stabbed the monster in the eyes.

Stetson howled in agony as he dropped Trubel onto the ground and fell backwards, his hands grasping at his eyes. "AAAUGHH!" He cried as he rolled over on to the ground and convulsed in pain, "WHAT DID YOU DO?!"

"Siegbarste Gift." Trubel said softly as she landed on the ground, "Specifically made to kill you from the inside out."

"No...no...no… oh GOD!" The monster yelled in pure agony as he rolled across the ground, his eyes up and shielding his eyes as if to prevent the poison from leaking into his bloodstream, Trubel smiled as she picked up Nick's fallen gun from the needles, and pointed it at the dying monster's head.

"I still don't know what kind of beef you had with my foster parents. And I don't care anymore either. You killed them all those years ago and now you almost killed my new family. This is for them all." She said coldly. And then, She pulled. The trigger.

His head shattered into a million fragments of bone as the poison took effect and his skull ruptured with the impact of the bullet.

And then she just sat there. In the pine needles with the body of her parent's murderer before her. She absently dropped Nick's gun into the grass. Her eyes were blank and unseeing as she remained silently staring into oblivion.

 **{** **GRIMM** **}**

Nick and Hank approached her a while later, Hank slightly supporting Nick with his shoulder as they came up to the young Grimm.

"Trubel...?" Nick asked quietly. The girl slowly turned to him at the call of her name, and she looked up, meeting Nick's eyes.

Nick silently took in the sight before him. Trubel's eyes were dark and blank. Her right hand hung by her side with his gun lying on the ground. Her left leg poked out at an odd angle. Blood coated her dark hair, and streams of the red liquid oozed from various cuts all over her face and hands.

And without a word, she collapsed. Nick and Hank caught her as she fell, and Hank lifted her up off the ground. Wu and the Captain came out from the underbrush, the Captain looking unruffled and dirty, but unhurt.

"Is she alright?" the Captain asked as he came up to the two men holding the fallen girl.

"I'm feeling just 'bout as good as I look…" Trubel murmured. Nick and Hank both immediately turned their attention to her, and she smiled. "I'm not dead yet...you can put me down. I...I can stand."

Hank put her down and she grimaced as she stood, shifting all her weight onto her good leg. "It's crazy you can even stand with that."

"I can't. But I'm doing it." Trubel replied.

Wu just stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open. Even he had no jokes to crack at the sight of the girl standing before him. Bloodied, broken, exhaustion fixated in her eyes, yet still standing tall.

The Captain took in the sight before him and bit his tongue, "Don't worry about Stetson." He assured her. "I'll take care of it. I'll make it so that you were never here."

Trubel stood there silently for a moment before speaking. "Actually, no. I _want_ to have been involved in this. I want people to know _I_ did this. I avenged my parents and I don't think it's something that should be hidden."

The Captain frowned as he thought for a couple seconds, before reaching his hand out. "Alright. It's your call. You did it, your parents deserve this at least."

"Thank you." Trubel said as she reached out and shook the Captain's hand.

 **A/N: Leave a comment. Trubel needs them.**


End file.
